A couple in Pennsylvania will be suing two funeral homes that made an error in sending them an unmarked box that had their son’s brain in it. Imagine the pain of grieving your child’s death and then receiving parts of their remains in a box that’s starting to decay and smell like death. The parents explain the incident to be traumatic and wish nobody would go through this horrific tragedy.
Fifty-six years old, the late Veteran‘s parents, Lawrence and Abbey Butler, received their son’s remains in an unlabelled box. They are set to sue the funeral homes in Georgia and Philadelphia named Southern Cremations & Funerals and Nix & Nix Funeral Homes.
The parents stated that the box was leaking and smelling. The leakage also made contact with the late son’s father, which was horrifying to say the least. Lawrence Butler reveals he smelled the death of their son, as parents, they wish no one had to go through this.
Besides, they had to get rid of the car since the remains made contact with it, and they could not keep it anymore. Both the funeral homes are responsible for this. The unmarked white box they gave, thinking they were personal items, turned out to be their deceased son’s brain.
A couple sued two funeral homes for mishandling their son’s remains after the pair allegedly received an unlabeled leaking box that contained their child’s brain. https://t.co/eCLxXCkmmM pic.twitter.com/3d2oZFg1OD
— Chris Pugh (@ChrisPughEdits) July 28, 2025
They do not think there is a valid justification or reason for this happening. They could not even open the box as knowing it’s their son’s remains was quite overwhelming for them. Lawrence also said that they relied on professionalism to avoid the trauma of such a situation.
It felt like a double loss to them that day. So far, the funeral home, Nix and Nix, has stated it wasn’t their fault that this happened. Julian Nix also stated that the parents don’t know if their son was buried with a brain or not, so that’s under investigation.
Funeral homes gave dead son’s brain to parents, lawsuit alleges https://t.co/ZUBNhfkdRr pic.twitter.com/wI6N1Dfi3h
— New York Post (@nypost) July 25, 2025
Meanwhile, Lawrence just wants funeral homes to take responsibility and learn their lesson here. According to him, they did not do their job as well as they trusted them to. They did not do their job correctly. As a result, the parents are left traumatized.
While grieving their son, they should not have to deal with this. They should have the peace of knowing that the funeral home took care of their own responsibilities. Their son may not be resting in peace, the one thing they wanted after losing him. The funeral homes’ negligence has caused them emotional distress.
