Body Missing from Funeral Home.

[Alamo]

Updates, but body still not found:

2 years after disappearance of S.A. woman's body, new developments emerge in Julie Mott case - San Antonio Express-News
The story as originally presented was that the body was in the funeral home when employees locked up at 4:30 on one day and was gone the next when employees came to work, with no sign of forced entry to the building. Now it turns out a separate but frequently used subcontractor had keys and alarm codes to the funeral home, and often used them to make independent, unsupervised visits to the funeral home.


"Obsessed" ex-boyfriend is apparently still obsessing:
Ex-boyfriend charged in case of Julie Mott's missing remains
This is a very misleading title. He was not charged with anything to do with the missing body. He was charged (this past
Feb) because he got caught trespassing on the grounds of the funeral home - twice - after being given a criminal trespass notice. According the first link above, he called the funeral home 200 times in one day, and called the family every day between midnight and 0400 for two weeks.

And...he gets caught trespassing again at the funeral home right after being charged in court. This got him a GPS tracker. Apparently he is still awaiting trial.
Julie Mott's ex-boyfriend ordered to wear GPS after additional trespassing accusation

Various quotes by the cops seem to indicate they think he might still be good for the role of body thief.


All this needs is a UFO angle, and the story is ready for a TV miniseries.

 

[Alamo]

And the civil trial is underway:

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...n-missing-body-case-starts-today-12536634.php
Plaintiff's lawyer pounds on fact that funeral home used another closely related mortuary services company to move/embalm/cremate bodies. Claims this contradicts FH company motto of “care, custody and control”. Company owner testimony not perzackly identical to previous deposition. Defendant's lawyer says family didn't notify funeral home that deceased daughter's boyfriend was an obsessed nut about her who objected to family's plan to cremate.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...nues-in-San-Antonio-missing-body-12540002.php
When company owner heard body was missing, first call was to his lawyer, then family. Defendant's lawyer objected to this line of questioning, attorney-client privilege, sustained...but probably too late. Also, security codes for doors hadn't been changed in 20 years. (Probably not helpful to defendant's case.) Key locks not changed in 10 years. ADT alarm not set that night. Door openings/closings not monitored by ADT. Further news: funeral home owner had allowed deceased's family to live on owner's property because daughter liked horses, father had worked for owner (as a pilot I believe). They were "family."

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...dicts-statements-made-in-missing-12545018.php
Defendant's spar with plaintiff's lawyers over current testimony versus previous depositions. Plaintiff's lawyers seem to be pushing that using another legal entity to transport the body and do cremation was some kind of breach of duty, and that conflicts with deposition that funeral home owners used "our people." FH owners seem to regard other company as "their people" because other company's owner had been employer, and FH owner helped him start his own company.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...-Mott-s-ex-boyfriend-on-Facebook-12552743.php
Deceased's dad thought FH did a great job with the funeral. Had no idea that obsessed ex boyfriend didn't want her cremated, and no idea obsessed ex-boyfriend might steal body. Dad's son/brother of deceased immediately thought boyfriend had stolen body when told of disappearance and openly accused ex-boyfriend of same Facebook. Judge grants motion to ban live video from courtroom. Some local news had been live-streaming the trial.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...-mother-thought-Who-took-my-baby-12555838.php
Plaintiffs' lawyers show video deposition of employee of mortuary services company, gives Satanic slant to employee's off-duty activity. FB posts, membership in "brutal death metal" band, etc. Owner of mortuary services company testifies employee is "sweet guy" worked for them for years, no idea about "satanic" aspects. Mother of deceased testifies. Mother's psychologist testifies about depression. Plaintiff rests case.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...worker-after-satanism-alleged-in-12559501.php
Defense lawyers re-quiz owner of mortuary services about employee, says great employee, rarely misses work, and logs show he never had contact with missing body. Defendant's psychiatrist downplays plaintiff's psychologist's testimony. Mom/dad had depression prior to funeral.


More to come. Trial predicted to last 3 weeks, started last week. What a mess.

 

[Dead Duck]

That there is one major ****storm.




Even Hollywood would think that script was too unbelievable.

 

[yeahbaby]

Kind of in the same line. One of my co-workers got home from work last week. Has a smaller package on her porch. There is a label on the package that says "contains human remains" with just their address. There was the address of the funeral home on it too. Tried contacting with no answer. Her husband was so freaked out he left the box in the garage. Was able to get ahold of the funeral home and get things straightened out. It was the cremation remains of someones uncle.

 

[Alamo]

Kind of in the same line. One of my co-workers got home from work last week. Has a smaller package on her porch. There is a label on the package that says "contains human remains" with just their address. There was the address of the funeral home on it too. Tried contacting with no answer. Her husband was so freaked out he left the box in the garage. Was able to get ahold of the funeral home and get things straightened out. It was the cremation remains of someones uncle.

Prior to 9/11 I brought my brother's ashes back to Indiana via airline. The girl at security (airline operated checkpoint, she looked like barely out of high school) just about jumped out of her skin when I told her what was in the container in my carry on.

break-break

In today's testimony, the defense brought a casket into the courtroom to show the jury how it worked. It wasn't the same casket that the body went missing from, just one that was similar. The plaintiffs' lawyers had heartburn over this but the judge allowed it. Trivia note: I did not know there was a trap door in the foot of the casket through which the body could be removed. At least there was on this one.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...-one-used-for-San-12562094.php#photo-15012648

 

[PGRChaplain]

I'll just leave this here....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aowSGxim_O8

 

[Alamo]

Testimony is finished.

On the last day the defense played a videotaped deposition of the obsessed ex-boyfriend (OBF). His entire testimony consisted of “On the advice of my attorney, I am not going to answer,” for every question asked.

The defense then rested, and the jury was excused.

The defense the presented a new witness to the judge. A funeral director from an unrelated company said three months after the body disappeared a man called her twice asking how to preserve a body, including in a glass case. The judge would not allow the jury to hear this witness because it was an "unfair surprise."

Closing arguments on Tuesday. It appears that the case boils down to the family claiming however the body was lost it was the funeral home's fault, buttressed by testimony of loose controls on access to the building. The funeral homes defense is "it's not our fault, the family told us themselves that OBF stole the body."

I think it is highly likely that the OBF did steal the body, but I also think the funeral home and its insurance company better get their checkbooks handy.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/l...timony-by-Mott-s-ex-boyfriend-in-12584867.php

 

[Libertarian01]

Let us ignore for a moment that it was a body that was stolen. If I took a ring to a jeweler to be resized, or a lawnmower to a dealer to be serviced, or my car to the mechanic to be worked on, it is in their care and control. They have 100% full control over my property and are responsible for it.

However, if the family was aware that necroboy was obsessing over the property, then that may(?) mitigate some of the liability. If I have an obsessive brother that really really really wants my ring and I don't tell the jeweler about him and the extra risk he poses, that may cover the jewelers butt so long as he did basic due diligence. Maybe...

It seems to me that some of the plaintiffs information was just BS. I don't care who an employee worships or how they do so, do they show up for work? Are they responsible? Do they follow the rules and laws? As for using other contracted services, who cares? If my mechanic needs to send off my car to get some specialized work done, so what? I remember for business class a professors friend started a funeral company, but for funerals they rented the hearse from another company as they are very expensive to buy. They were going to rent for the first five (5) years or so before investing the money into their own. It seemed to be a normal business practice within the industry.

No matter how it turns out very sad for everyone involved.

Regards,

Doug

 

[1911ly]

I don't see how the funeral home can get out of some kind of blame for the body going missing. They failed because of the lack of security. Nobody should have been able to get to the body.

 

[Dead Duck]

I don't see how the funeral home can get out of some kind of blame for the body going missing.

Now if her name was "Waldo", everyone would expect this to happen.

 

[Libertarian01]

Maybe someone should file a Habeas Corpus?

Too soon...?

Doug

 

[Alamo]

$8 million
https://www.ksat.com/news/julie-motts-family-asking-for-25-million-in-lawsuit-1

 

[Alamo]

Plaintiff had heart attack on Fri.

https://m.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...-body-missing-12610856.php#item-85307-tbla-30

 

[Alamo]

San Antonio Ecypress News publishes its annual “body still missing” story.

And yup, body is still missing.

Police say:

[FONT=&amp]“We recently discovered some new information that we are actively pursuing with the hope that it leads us to Julie’s whereabouts,” said Lt. Jesse Salame, deputy chief of staff for Chief William McManus. “Because we don’t want to jeopardize the case, we can’t reveal yet what that new information is.”[/FONT]

Ok then.

https://m.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...body-went-missing-13183532.php#photo-16070338

 

[Alamo]

Other than the funeral home putting up a bond and appealing the civil judgment...nada.

I don’t think the San Antonio Express News even did an annual “Where’s Julie” story this year.

 

[Alamo]

She’s stll missing.

 

[Alamo]

Ditto.

 

[Alamo]

Missed the anniversary in August. Still missing.

Bizarre and sad.

 

[1911ly]

Wow. How can this even happen. Prayers to the family.

 

[HoughMade]

I was involved in a case where a body was cremated before the family was able to make funeral arrangements because the wrong body was picked up from where it was stored. All I'll say is that there are sometimes many people from different entities involved and when people believe someone else has taken care of things....stuff can get missed.

Thinking back to my experience in the case cited above, I'm thinking there is no missing body. Not in the "stolen body" sense.

I'm guessing the funeral home mistakenly sent it to be cremated and made up the "stolen body" story to shift blame. In my case, everyone reported exactly what happened, including the mistakes and we fought about who was more at fault, but I'm guessing that not everyone is as "stand up" as the parties in my case. All 3 defendants made mistakes, but they owned up to them. I'm thinking the funeral home didn't and never will.