Call Kurtis Investigates: Stockton Man Misses His Own Funeral

STOCKTON (CBS13) - A Stockton man died in October and ended up missing his own funeral- 11 days later. How does that happen?

His family emailed Call Kurtis to investigate.

Carla Southerland says, just after Robert Oliveria died, the hospital gave her family a list of funeral homes. They called one of them, not knowing that funeral home actually closed three months earlier. The call got answered though, and the Oliveiras were told to make arrangements through a Stockton church.

"The only way I identified where I was going, they had hearses out front," she said.

The family paid for cremation and planned the funeral and cemetery burial 11 days later. However, Robert's cremated remains didn't arrive in time and the cemetery portion needed to be canceled.

"I was devastated," Southerland said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, How do you tell somebody I'm sorry he didn't make it here?'" she said.

Call Kurtis learned that, at the time of Carla's dad's funeral, state investigators were zeroing in on what was going on inside the church the family was told to use. It included unrefrigerated, unembalmed bodies. The state also discovered remains kept offsite in a storage locker.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Unrefrigerated, Unembalmed Bodies Discovered Inside Stockton Church Operating As Unlicensed Funeral Home