Aiken County Coroner Says Wrong Body Cremated After Misidentification

Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables says his office is accepting full accountability for their portion of a mistake made this week in releasing a body to a local funeral home.

Ables said a Coroner's Office employee released the body to the custody of the funeral home on Monday, June 23, for the purpose of cremation.

"The body was misidentified by the Coroner's staff member, inadvertently released to the funeral home, and should not have been cremated," said Ables.

The error was discovered the following day.

Ables said he reported the incident to the Aiken County Attorney's Office and the South Carolina Coroner's Association. In addition, the South Carolina Funeral Directors' Association and the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation were also notified since a funeral home and crematory were also involved in the incident.

"Releasing a body is a multi-step process, and the number of steps depends upon how many agencies are involved in the final disposition," Ables explained.

The Aiken County Coroner's Office protocol includes an intake/release log, which is supposed to be verified and signed by the agency assuming custody of the body. It's also supposed to be signed by the Coroner's staff member who is releasing the body.

Ables said, "This incident is very unfortunate, and we are deeply remorseful to the family of the decedent. Accurate identification and verification at intake and release are critical to the process for all agencies involved, and we accept full accountability for our portion of the incident."

He added that he'll be conducting a thorough review to determine exactly how the error occurred and to ensure that it never happens again.