Arkansas Funeral Care in Jacksonville
The Arkansas State Board of Embalmers & Funeral Directors voted for an emergency suspension of the licenses of Arkansas Funeral Care of Jacksonville and its manager, LeRoy Wood, after an inspector testified that she was “taken aback” by the conditions under which bodies were being held.
Wood, who has denied allegations made in a formal complaint by a former employee, was not party to the emergency teleconference meeting of the board. He will receive a full hearing on Friday.
Leslie Stokes, the board inspector, said she visited Arkansas Funeral Care every weekday last week. On Monday, Jan. 12, she said she found the funeral home’s body cooling facility filled beyond capacity, with approximately 25 bodies in the cooler — including one that was stacked directly on another.
Outside the cooler were seven more bodies, including two side by side on a wooden board and another one that was in an obvious state of decomposition and leaking bodily fluids onto the floor.
She also witnessed a trash container that contained flooring from the funeral home’s crematory mixed with what Stokes suspected was ash from at least one cremated body.
On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Stokes said she was able to walk into the funeral home while a visitation was under way and walk into the unlocked holding area and to the room where bodies are embalmed without being approached or questioned by any employees.
By Wednesday, she said, the bodies were organized better, but even by last Friday, there were still unembalmed bodies outside the cooler.
Stokes said Wood told her that his business had been busier than usual this month and that he had been sick.
Bodies will be moved from Arkansas Funeral Care as soon as practical. In the meantime, the board made plans to contact the families of the deceased. Concerned family members can contact the board at (501) 682-0574.
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