A mother was left horrified over the grim sight she saw when collecting her stillborn baby’s ashes and blanket.
Aurora Hartley, from Oklahoma, went into preterm labour on November 27, 2023, and was devastated when she discovered her baby, Hadley, was stillborn.
The grieving mother handed over the child’s remains to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Oklahoma City, which then sent Hadley to Alpha and Omega Mortuary for cremation.
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Now Aurora is taking legal action against both the cremation service and Brown’s Funeral Service in Coalgate, Oklahoma, where she went to pick up her baby’s ashes.
(Image: News9 Oklahoma City)
To Aurora’s horror, she discovered some of Hadley’s remains were still in the birthing blanket provided by the hospital, her lawyers claim.
“As they’re taking the birthing blanket and going to wash it and preserve it, they open it to find the remains of the child,” attorney John Zelbst told News 9. “You can only imagine the shock and disgust.”
He added: “We have an urn with ashes that no one knows who they belong to. It’s not our client’s baby. So what family is missing their loved one?”
(Image: Facebook)
The attorney claimed the funeral home told local police the ashes were of her placenta rather than the child’s remains. “They gave this excuse that it’s the placenta. It has no characteristics of a cremation,” Zelbst said. “So that starts the cover up.”
According to the Daily Mail, in April this year Alpha and Omega Mortuary Services were investigated by the US Department of Labor for violations of federal employment laws.
It found overworked employees sometimes did 60 to 80 hour weeks, with no days off, with former work member Crystal Moeai telling KFOR amid the investigation they once did a “27-hour shift”.
(Image: News9 Oklahoma City)
“Alpha and Omega Mortuary Service and Crematory violated the law and harmed the people on whom the company depends to work long hours to provide an important service to the community in return for low wages,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Michael Speer said at the time.
Aurora says she is seeking help for her mental health after losing her infant and experiencing the trauma of finding her still-born baby’s remains in a blanket.
The Daily Star has reached out to Brown’s Funeral Service to request comment.
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