The "Sleight of Hand ….. Bigtime" Story

It was an ordinary day.  And, then I tuned into Travel Talk Online (TTOL) and read one of the most disturbing threads that has been posted on the travel forum in some time.  

Lisa with a photo of her deceased mother.

Story about two women, both from North America, who recently died on the island of St. Maarten and whose bodies allegedly got  mixed up when they were shipped back to North America.  One body was sent to New Jersey while the other body was sent to Ottawa.  The woman's body in Ottawa was cremated while the other woman's body in New Jersey was prepared for a viewing and a funeral.  Both women died of natural causes on Thanksgiving day this past November while vacationing on St. Maarten and both bodies were taken to the Emerald Funeral Home on St. Maarten.  Both bodies were flown to the United States on the same airline and when the daughter of one of the women, Lisa, went to say her last goodbyes, she discovered that the body in the casket was not that of her mother.  The alleged 82 year-old body was dressed in the clothing that Lisa's sister had taken to the funeral home shortly after her mother had died at the condo where the two along with other family members had gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving, but she didn't recognize the face.  In the meantime the alleged 85 year old woman's body in Ottawa was being cremated by her family.  Lisa said that her sister was not allowed to see her mother's body in St. Maarten after she dropped off the clothing and the funeral home said they would not release the body unless the family wired $7,000 in cash.  And when the body finally reached New Jersey, a mysterious red pouch accompanied it.  In it was a necklace with the letter "E" on it, a ring and a medical bracelet citing angina on it.  Lisa's mother's name was Margaret and she didn't have angina.  So what went wrong?  To top that off, the funeral director in New Jersey, a friend of the family, said that the funeral parlor in St. Maarten had done a really poor job of preparing the body.  So now what?  The  family has hired a private detective and the Health Inspector in St. Maarten will investigate all aspects of the incident and report to the Minister of Public Health.  A DNA analysis will be carried out to check on the identity of each body.  

Similarities between the two woman can be seen here.

The Emerald Home director and embalmer claims that the correct human remains were sent to the correct persons.  He said he took both bodies to the airport at the same time and everything was regulated with the government.  The air trays containing the bodies were tagged after being delivered to the airport.  Both air trays were identical.  He claims that if something happened after that, he had no control over that.  What makes this even more spooky is that both woman looked eerily similar being blonde and Caucasian and both with pacemakers and full sets of dentures and even hip replacements in their right legs.  With the extended length of time between their death and the funeral in New Jersey, along with the poor embalming job, it may be possible that ..........  Could it be that the bodies were truly the right ones as the funeral director swore, or could a terrible mistake have been made.  Keep tuned in case I read more.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.