A grieving mother in Oklahoma is taking a funeral home to court over the condition of her baby's remains after she was met with shock and disgust following her child's alleged cremation.
Aurora Hartley went into pre-term labor in November 2023 and gave birth to a stillborn baby named Hadley, according to NEWS9.
She turned over her child's remains to the Medical Examiner's Office in Oklahoma City to conduct an autopsy, which in turn sent Hadley's remains to Alpha and Omega Mortuary for cremation.
When Hartley went to pick up her child's ashes and hospital birthing blanket from Brown's Funeral Service, she was appalled to find the remains of her baby still in the blanket.
"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," said her attorney, John Zelbst.
"You can only imagine the shock and disgust."
Hartley, her boyfriend, and her family pressed Brown's for more information on how such a mistake could have occurred.
"We have an urn with ashes that no one knows who they belong to," Zelbst said. 'It's not our client's baby. So what family is missing their loved one?"
The funeral home reportedly claims that the ashes were of Hartley's cremated placenta rather than the child's remains.
Zelbst called their claim a cover-up, stating it has no characteristics of a cremation.
Now, the family is pursuing legal action against the mortuary and funeral home to ensure this type of horror never happens to another family.
The US Department of Labor launched an investigation into the operator of Alpha and Omega in April for violations of federal employment laws.
Its findings showed employees were deprived of overtime pay and would sometimes work for days straight.
It's unclear whether the long hours could have contributed to the mix-up with Hartley's baby; however, she says she's currently seeking mental health assistance for losing the infant in such a traumatic experience.
