The Associated Press (AP) reported this Friday that a woman is demanding some answers after she discovered that the body she was mourning in a mortuary was not her mother's, who passed away while vacationing in the Caribbean island of Saint Maarten.
Lisa Kondver, from Warwick, Rhode Island, and her family made the discovery in New Jersey, last month, hours before carrying out the service. Her mother's body, Margaret Porkka, was prepared in a mortuary in the island and brought back to the United States by plane. The family had to continue with the service, but they left the coffin closed.
"I looked up, and I was like, 'Good God, are you kidding me?' I was stunned," said Kondvar to the AP by phone on Friday.
The family believes that it was either the hospital or the mortuary that mixed up Porkka's body with a Canadian woman's that passed away in the island almost at the same time. The body sent to Canada has already been cremated and they believes it was Porkka's
The family wants to take possession of the remains once they confirm they are Porkka's. The women didn't look alike and were even different height and complexion.
SaraH Wescot-Williams, St. Martin's Prime Minister, has informed that the local government has formed a committee to investigate the case under solicitation of American authorities, and they will realize a DNA analysis to identify both bodies.
Orlando Vanterpool, Emeral Funeral home director, said that he took the bodies to the airport on the same day and the containers where the bodies were placed were identical.
"To my knowledge, we sent the right human remains," he assured. "Everything was done according to regulations with the government. All the paperwork was in order, but it seems that somewhere, something bad happened." He is willing to give a full refund if the investigation proves the situation occurred because of mistake made by him.
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