Nine years on ice: Body remains in morgue as legal battle continues

The body of a Jamaican man, who served in the British Navy, is still locked away in storage in a downtown Kingston morgue — nine years after his death.

And there seems to be no end in sight as the matter is now in court with the funeral home director, Michael Jones, seeking millions of dollars incurred in storage fees.

The man died in 2007 leaving several millions in assets. He had given instructions to family members that one of his properties should be sold to cover his funeral expenses.

But his instructions were never followed, the funeral home director told Loop News.

“At the time of his death, family members requested that the funeral home bury the deceased and that they would cover the cost at a later date,” said the funeral director in an interview.

The director said he declined and told the family that he would delay the proceedings until they came up with the relevant funds.

That was in 2012.

He said preparations were also placed on hold as morgue officials had to wait on the burial order and other documents.

Still, during the wait, the family members failed to come up with the cash, resulting in the legal action to recover storage costs.

story credit: loopjamaica