Body Of Girl, 14, Left In Morgue 2-Months As Parents Bicker Over Custody Of Remains — Judge Orders Funeral

A judge in Milwaukee has ordered a father to hold a funeral for his daughter after the body of the 14-year-old girl languished in the morgue for two months. As the parents’ dispute went on over funeral arrangements, the girl’s remains have been left in the Milwaukee County Morgue with no pending plans, and Circuit Court Judge David Borowski has now made a ruling that this will not go on any longer.

Amina Krouser died in December and her mother Azlyza Ababneh has been charged with abuse and neglect of her daughter, resulting in the child’s death, reports Fox News. According to court documents, Amina and her two siblings lived with her mother in a house that had no running water or heat. Reports indicate that on November 26, Amina became ill and her mother did not believe that she was sick.

The mother thought the girl was just being “lazy” and beat her with a plastic pipe and a belt, according to the Star Herald. The girl died on December 10, after she was taken to the hospital. The father, Michael Krouser, who lives in Texas, hadn’t had any part in his daughter’s life since a long-ago divorce and he has “paid little if any child support.”

He has asked the court for exclusive rights to his daughter’s body when it came to the burial arrangements. The deceased teen’s mother is against this because the father wants Amina’s body cremated, which goes against her religion. The mother, who had custody of the girl, still does have the rights to decide on the burial because she has not been charged with homicide in this case, according to Fox News.

Despite the judge telling the father of the dead teen in court that he finds his behavior as a father “atrocious,” he granted control over the girl’s remains to the man. The judge ordered that Krouser hold a funeral for his daughter, but he did not specify whether the girl’s body should be cremated or buried.

The judge said that he would not allow the child’s remains to stay at the morgue and eventually be buried in an unmarked grave, which would happen if the county took custody of the remains. He said, “that would be a further indignity to this poor child.” Borowski also said, “She at least deserves a decent, respectful service.”