Washington Heights Funeral Home Mixed Up Bodies, Reports Say

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The act of burying a loved one can be difficult. But for four families who arranged wake services this weekend at the RG Ortiz Funeral Home in Washington Heights,the experience turned into a nightmare, according to reports.

The funeral home managed to bungle four wake services on Sunday night by misplacing or mixing up up dead bodies, forcing families to endure hours waiting for services and neglecting to provide flowers and other decorations, WABC first reported.

Families who paid thousands of dollars to arrange the services were left wondering what went wrong, the New York Post reported. Miguel Paulino Castro, 57, picked out a special outfit for his mother Maria's wake, but when the service arrived the clothes were put on the wrong body, the New York Post reported.

"It was another woman in my mother’s dress," Castro told the Post. "I was in disbelief."

The correct remains were eventually tracked down to another funeral home in the Bronx, according to the report.

The family of 24-year-old Jeremy Rodriguez was forced to wait hours for and $11,000 service after a body from a previous service was left in the chapel they were supposed to use, WABC reported. By the time Rodriguez's remains were delivered, the family had to swap his body with the other casket because there was only one woman working at the funeral home, according to the report.

"This was probably one of the more horrendous moments I ever experienced in my life," Rodriguez's cousin Elizabeth Felix told WABC.

Two families also paid thousands and waited hours to discover major mistakes were made by the RG Ortiz Funeral Home — including forgetting arrange decorations such as flowers and rosary beads, and dressing remains in the wrong clothing.

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