HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The state investigation into a Henry County funeral home accused of sending dirt to a family instead of their baby’s ashes is now in the hands of the Attorney General’s Office.
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A spokesman for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that its investigation into Stan Henderson & Sons Mortuary in Stockbridge has been turned over to the AG’s office for further investigation. Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the AG’s office and a spokeswoman confirmed that they are looking into the matter.
Last May, Channel 2′s Michael Seiden spoke exclusively with Alexus Taylor and Jalen Matthews, of Valdosta, who claimed they hired the funeral home to cremate their one-month-old baby, Josiah.
They thought they had received the ashes when they got a call that shook their world.
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On Tuesday, Channel 2 Action News spoke with Isaac Lezcano, of the Atlanta-based Wetherington Law Firm, who confirmed that a recent investigation revealed that the couple was given the ashes of a complete stranger.
“If people can’t trust that the funeral industry is going to treat their loved ones in a dignified way or manner, they can’t grieve,” he said. “Alexus and Jalen, they are stuck back in that day and they have not been able to move past it.”
In May, state officials told Channel 2 Action News that Henderson’s funeral home had been on probation since Feb. 2022 for operating without a licensed funeral director.
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Channel 2 Action News has tried on multiple occasions to speak with Henderson about the allegations, but he has declined to comment.
On Tuesday, his lawyer, Jonathan M. Broderick, managing partner at Broderick Law Group, sent the following statement regarding the investigation:
“We have confirmed that the investigation against Mr. Henderson was a fact finding or better yet an information gathering investigation that was conducted on behalf of the licensing committee. This was not a criminal investigation. To the extent any involvement of the AG’s office is occurring we have not been made aware of any action taken by the AGs office. The public site which can verify Stan Henderson and Son’s licensing status shows that he is on “probation”. If his license to operate were revoked it would have stated so. This is the unfortunate tail of no-good deed going unpunished. Mr. Henderson has been friends with the relatives of the young couple for many years and offered to do the cremation, which is the subject of their lawsuit free of charge. He did not make one penny from volunteering to do this and had no motive, intent or desire to mislead anyone. Mr. Henderson is confident that as more facts come to light his integrity, and character will be exonerated from the attempts of the couple’s attorneys to assassinate his character in the media with baseless lies and allegations. They have gone from accusing him of putting dirt in an urn (which was never confirmed) to apparently now admitting that the urn had someone else’s remains. This slight fact alone speaks volumes to intent. There is no justification for placing dirt in an urn while the remains being for the wrong person gives itself to a mistake. To the extent it is proved that the wrong remains were given to the couple it was an unfortunate mistake but a mistake nonetheless.”
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