Family Sues Rose Hills Over Body Mix Up

The family of Mercedes Adilia Rodriguez wanted to honor her dying wish that she be interred above ground in her native Nicaragua. The grandmother of 11 also wanted a closed-casket funeral.

However, employees at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuaries in Whittier confused her with another woman.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Rodriguez underwent another woman's open-casket services dressed in the woman's clothing. Later, cemetery workers buried the grandmother of 11 in the plot marked with the other woman's name.

According to the Times, Rodriguez's family members have filed suit against the cemetery seeking a non-specific amount of damages because they have been "forever haunted by the vision of how a complete stranger's family and friends mourned, touched, kissed and cried" over Rodriguez's body.

Rodriguez's son, Alberto Pernudi, told the Times he has yet to get over the funeral home's mistake.

"Is there such thing as forgiveness for a company?" he said.

The newspaper wrote Rodriguez died shortly after her 88th birthday in September 2010. She led a life of hardship, enduring abandonment by her husband, a daughter's death and war.