Philadelphia family sues funeral homes after veteran son’s brain was given to them in cardboard box

The grieving family is suing two funeral homes in Georgia and Philadelphia over what they call “gross misconduct” in the handling of their son’s remains.

A family in Philadelphia is suing two separate funeral homes after allegedly being given their son’s brain in a cardboard box when retrieving his personal belongings, according to Atlanta’s Fox 5. Lawrence and Abbey Butler have filed suit against Southern Cremations and Funerals at Cheatham Hill in Marietta, Ga., and Nix and Nix Funeral Home in Philadelphia, citing gross misconduct and emotional distress for their mishandling of their son Timothy Garlington’s remains following his death. Garlington was a 56-year-old Marine veteran when he died in November 2023 in Georgia. 

The Butlers hired Southern Cremations to prepare his body and transport it to Nix and Nix Funeral Home in Philadelphia. According to the Butlers, they went to the Philadelphia funeral home to retrieve their son’s belongings and were given a red cardboard box. The family says their son’s belongings were in their car for days before they noticed a smell and found leaking fluid. After reaching out to the Georgia funeral home, they were told that Garlington’s brain was inside the red cardboard box. The Butlers’ attorney, L. Chris Stewart, said they had no clue what was in the box. 

Stewart said, “After a few days the box started smelling like what they said was death, and when they grabbed the box it was covered in a fluid that got all over them and they took it in the home and put it on the back porch. Not knowing what it was they inquired with Southern Cremations in Georgia and they were informed that it was their son’s brain.” Speaking on behalf of the family, he said they were devastated. 

“The family has been destroyed twice.”

“It was, and it is still in my heart, that I got in my car and I smelled death. We just pray that this doesn’t happen to anyone else again. I had to get rid of that car. I just couldn’t stand the idea that the remains [were] in that car,” said Lawrence Butler, according to People. 

While the family is suing both funeral homes, the owner of Nix and Nix—Julian Nix—said they did nothing wrong. According to Nix, once they were made aware of the discovery of the brain inside of a box, they claim to have notified the proper state officials, placing the blame on Southern Cremations in Georgia. 

“Any body parts should be in the body. I don’t understand why they would send his brains in a box, a regular box. We immediately reported it to the state board and the medical examiner for inspection. When the state board investigated, they said that we did everything correct,” said Nix. 

Southern Cremations has not responded to the claims. 

Lawrence Butler, hopes that the funeral homes learn from this and don’t make this mistake again, saying, “You really depend on them to get you through. And then to find out that they did not take the care to at least know what they were sending to us. … We just trusted them to do what we thought should be done correctly. This was not done correctly at all.”