FORT WORTH, Texas — Jose Gonzalez’s death in March 2020 was sudden. But for his family, the most shocking part of their loved one’s death came on the day of his funeral in California, when they approached the open casket and, inside, saw the wrong body.
Back in Tarrant County, Texas, Jose Gonzalez’s organs were harvested and his body was cremated.
Two years later, Gonzalez’s family, who live in California, filed a lawsuit against multiple Tarrant County agencies over the mix-up that exacerbated their grief and left them with no real remedy.
In March 2020, Gonzalez, 47, drove through Tarrant County as part of his route as a long-haul truck driver. He became suddenly ill and went to a local hospital, according to the suit, which was filed in March 2022. He died at the hospital on March 20, 2020.
Gonzalez’s wife, Celina Gonzalez, made arrangements with funeral homes in Fort Worth and California, where the family lives. Her husband’s body was supposed to be embalmed and transported from a funeral home in Fort Worth to the funeral home in California.
According to the lawsuit, each agency involved in the transportation of Jose Gonzalez’s body failed to verify they were sending the correct body to his family. Instead, the body of a man named Jesse Gonzalez was sent to California and put into the casket meant for Jose Gonzalez.
The defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed in Tarrant County district court, are the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Brown Owens and Brumley Funeral Home, the University of North Texas Health Science Center and Accucare Mortuary Services.
None of those agencies immediately responded to requests for comment.
According to the suit, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office switched the bodies of Jose Gonzalez and Jesse Gonzalez. The Medical Examiner’s Office gave Jose Gonzalez’s body to the UNTHSC and gave Jesse Gonzalez’s body to Accucare Mortuary Services, the suit says.
UNTHSC and Accucare did not verify they had the correct bodies, according to the suit. UNTHSC harvested Jose Gonzalez’s body for organs and cremated it, the suit says.
In April 2020, Accucare picked up Jesse Gonzalez’s body — which it mistook for Jose Gonzalez’s body — and took it to Brown Funeral Home, according to the suit. Brown Funeral Home embalmed the body and sent it to California.
The family learned of the mistake at Jose Gonzalez’s funeral when Jesse Gonzalez’s body was put on display for viewing.
“They found out that it wasn’t the correct body at the funeral, in my opinion adding to the shock value,” said Megan David, the attorney for the Gonzalez family. “The widow, the friends and family — they were all there.”
According to the lawsuit, the family “experienced extreme emotional distress upon realizing a complete stranger, Jesse Gonzalez, was in the coffin.”
The family filed a corresponding lawsuit out of San Diego against the Chula Vista Funeral Home, which handled Jose Gonzalez’s funeral. The Chula Vista Funeral Home had also failed to verify they had the correct body, the suit says.
UNTHSC cremated Jose Gonzalez’s body as part of the Willed Body Program, where the center cremates bodies that no one has claimed.
“His body was cremated several weeks before they found out it was the wrong body,” David said, “so there is obviously no way to remedy that situation.”
The suit asks for a trial by jury and a minimum of $1 million in damages.
