OAKLAND — A second set of parents sued multiple East Bay funeral homes this month over an alleged “mix-up” that left one child cremated against her parents’ wishes, while another family received the wrong child’s ashes.
Anjelita and Cesar Reyes filed the lawsuit Aug. 14 in Alameda County Superior Court, claiming the funeral homes bungled the cremation of their young daughter, Ayelli Havana Reyes. The problem appeared all the more galling, the lawsuit claimed, because at least one of the funeral home directors had previously been promoted after allegedly mismanaging another cremation.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, an attorney for the parents blasted the funeral homes’ “subterfuge,” and the “catastrophic emotional harm” that followed.
“No parent should have to endure the shock and heartbreak of learning that the cemetery that they entrusted with their baby’s remains for cremation gave them someone else’s ashes,” said the attorney, Michael D. Goforth, adding that one of the funeral homes in particular “compounded my clients’ grief in ways that words cannot capture.”
The filing marks the second lawsuit filed against Holy Sepulchre Cemetery and Funeral Center — a nonprofit that operates under the Roman Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Oakland — and Fremont-based Irvington Memorial Cemetery, over the alleged botched cremations of Ayelli and another girl, Alaina Corona.
In a statement, Jamison Bobo, the manager of Irvington Memorial Cemetery, reiterated that “obviously, this is a very unfortunate situation.”
“However, Irvington Memorial Cemetery disputes that it has any liability in this matter and intends to vigorously defend any claims against it,” added Bobo, mirroring a response given after the first lawsuit.
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery and Funeral Center, as well as the Roman Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Oakland, did not immediately return requests by this news organization for comment.
Ayelli’s parents claim Holy Sepulchre mistakenly gave them Alaina’s remains, and didn’t notify them of the mistake for nearly a week.
It all started when Holy Sepulchre sent Alaina’s body — along with documents for Ayelli — to Irvington for cremation, according to both lawsuits. Irvington didn’t check to make sure that the body they received matched the name on the accompanying documents, the lawsuits claimed. The funeral home then put Alaina’s ashes in the urn meant for Ayelli, according to the filing.
On Dec. 6, 2024, Holy Sepulchre allegedly gave Ayelli’s family the urn containing the wrong ashes, the lawsuit claimed.
Five days later, on Dec. 11, someone from Holy Sepulchre notified Ayelli’s family of a “mix-up,” the lawsuit added. The issue was particularly problematic, a filing said, because Alaina’s family never wanted her to be cremated in the first place.
To correct the error, Holy Sepulchre’s leaders fired up their own in-house crematory — which was only used for “special situations” — to cremate Ayelli’s body, according to the latest lawsuit. The girl’s parents say the funeral home wanted to cremate the girl’s ashes themselves, because doing so allowed them to avoid disclosing they had sent the wrong body to Irvington in the first place.
The lawsuit by Ayelli’s parents included a screenshot of an email from a Holy Sepulchre crematory manager, which asked Ayelli’s parents to sign off on paperwork allowing the funeral home to cremate the body themselves.
The latest lawsuit also raised questions about the funeral home’s management — claiming that same crematory manager had been promoted after previously allowing someone to sign off on a cremation without legal authorization from that decedent’s next of kin.
The parents for both Ayelli and Alaina both say they remain uncertain whether the ashes they ultimately received were of their children.
“Defendants’ concealment was oppressive, fraudulent, malicious,” the lawsuit said, while highlighting the fact that Ayelli’s parents were “of a very fragile state of mind” at the time.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at [email protected].