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Utah woman grieving loss of brother receives wrong remains from California crematory

Posted at 6:33 PM, Oct 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-30 20:33:38-04

MURRAY, Utah – A Murray woman paid a California crematory to ship her brother’s remains to Utah, but there was a mix-up, and she ended up with the wrong remains.

Kim Goodsell reflected on happier times with her brother Kevin.

“My brother and I we were constantly playing jokes on one another,” she said.

On October 12 the 49-year-old suffered two massive heart attacks and passed away in Stockton, California. Since then, Goodsell says she’s been living a nightmare due to a mix-up over his remains.

“This has been just the worst month of our lives,” she said.

Goodsell made arrangements with A Bay Area Cremations in Northern California to ship her brother's remains to Murray, Utah. She took the unopened box to the Jenkins Soffe Mortuary, and discovered the remains weren’t Kevin’s.

“I opened up the envelope. I said, what’s this information up here, is this who does the cremation? That’s when he said that’s the deceased name and I said well, my brother’s name is Kevin.”

The remains Goodsell received were suppose to be shipped to New York.

Fox 40 KTXL in Sacramento spoke to Clint Love, the owner of A Bay Crematory.

“We're very apologetic as to what has happened... We've been in business a number of years and have never had this happen," Love said.

Goodsell said the mishandling of Kevin’s remains has caused her family even more grief. She’s speaking out to ensure another family doesn’t have to go through unnecessary pain.

“I figure if I’m a big enough thorn in this fella’s side. Maybe he will be a little bit more compassionate if this happens again to the next family, because there’s been no compassion here whatsoever.”

Goodsell handed over the wrong remains to the Murray mortuary, who will ship them back to the crematory in California. In return, she finally received peace of mind – her brother’s remains.

Goodsell has consulted an attorney. They’re considering asking the crematory to pay for DNA testing to verify the remains are Kevin’s.