A Maryland family that purchased a casket as a prop for a Halloween party said they were horrified after finding a woman’s ashes inside of it.
Brooke Wozniak told FOX 5 DC she ordered the casket from Facebook Marketplace. Discovered inside was a photograph of Edith Crews Meriedy, her death certificate, her hospital bracelet, a clothing receipt, gloves and an envelope with her remains.
Wozniak and her parents made the discovery last week in their Baltimore home.
“Everyone was in shock. And we didn’t really know how to feel about it,” Wozniak said. “My first reaction was, ‘we’ve got to find the family. We gotta find whoever the next of kin is or whoever knows her.’ “
Wozniak took to TikTok, hoping someone would recognize the woman.
Meriedy’s granddaughter saw the video and showed it to her mother, Sabrina Jones. Jones reached out to the Wozniaks and recovered her mother’s ashes and her belongings.
“That is wild,” Wozniak said in the TikTok video.
Jones said her 74-year-old mother was a pastor who died of COVID-19 in January. She was isolated from her family because of the contagious virus. She had to be cremated, but first Meriedy’s family rented the casket through Freeman Funeral Services in Clinton, Maryland, to memorialize her.
Jones said she is now grateful to have her mother’s remains back.
“We do have it back. I thank God for that,” Jones said.
Freeman Funeral Services told Meriedy’s family they sent several caskets to a scrap metal business to be destroyed. The owner apologized and promised to investigate the incident.
Still, the experience has reopened some emotional wounds.
“It doesn’t ease the pain of her being gone, you know? She was my best friend. I loved my mom dearly,” Jones, referring to herself as her mom’s “only girl,” said.
