Another lawsuit filed as more families learn of loved one’s rotting inside Jeffersonville funeral home

As anger grows among families continuing to be notified their loved ones’ bodies were found rotting inside Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center, a Jeffersonville attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit against the business. Attorney Larry Wilder filed the lawsuit in Clark County on Wednesday after being contacted first by the family of Nicole Lorey who died in June, but was identified as one of the bodies found when the gruesome discovery was made Friday. “So far, we have six folks and the stories are just, you know,” Wilder said. One of the families who got in touch with Wilder in the aftermath of the discovery was that of Mickey Kessinger, whose brother Roger Kessinger was notified Tuesday his body was among the 31 found. “I called the coroner’s office today and they asked me my brother’s name and I told them and they said, ‘Yes, we have him here,'” Kessinger said. “I just had a gut feeling, you know. Now knowing that he’s been laying up there all this time. I mean, it’s just killing me.”Mickey died on May 13. Kessinger said they had a memorial service at the funeral home the week after. “Oh man, when we walked in that place, it just smelled something awful,” Kessinger said.Kessinger returned a couple of weeks later to see what the hold-up was with his brother’s ashes and was given relief until he learned the truth. “He told me yes I got the $650 bucks and I took your brother and had him cremated and I delivered the ashes to your nephew Derrick,” Kessinger said. “My other brother Rick had contacted Derrick my nephew and said no he had never received the ashes.”He found out why on Tuesday. “I’m seeing a lot of that feeling that I failed my brother, I failed my husband, I failed my child because the last thing I could do for them was provide for them that dignity,” Wilder said. “Poor people who don’t have the assets or seek out the best services were taken advantage of.”It is something his brother believes the owner should pay for. “He deserves to spend the rest of his life tucked away,” Kessinger said. The lawsuit seeks damages for the families’ losses as well as for the emotional and mental pain. The cremated remains of 16 people were also found.

As anger grows among families continuing to be notified their loved ones’ bodies were found rotting inside Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center, a Jeffersonville attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit against the business.

Attorney Larry Wilder filed the lawsuit in Clark County on Wednesday after being contacted first by the family of Nicole Lorey who died in June, but was identified as one of the bodies found when the gruesome discovery was made Friday.

“So far, we have six folks and the stories are just, you know,” Wilder said.

One of the families who got in touch with Wilder in the aftermath of the discovery was that of Mickey Kessinger, whose brother Roger Kessinger was notified Tuesday his body was among the 31 found.

“I called the coroner’s office today and they asked me my brother’s name and I told them and they said, ‘Yes, we have him here,'” Kessinger said. “I just had a gut feeling, you know. Now knowing that he’s been laying up there all this time. I mean, it’s just killing me.”

Mickey died on May 13. Kessinger said they had a memorial service at the funeral home the week after.

“Oh man, when we walked in that place, it just smelled something awful,” Kessinger said.

Kessinger returned a couple of weeks later to see what the hold-up was with his brother’s ashes and was given relief until he learned the truth.

“He told me yes I got the $650 bucks and I took your brother and had him cremated and I delivered the ashes to your nephew Derrick,” Kessinger said. “My other brother Rick had contacted Derrick my nephew and said no he had never received the ashes.”

He found out why on Tuesday.

“I’m seeing a lot of that feeling that I failed my brother, I failed my husband, I failed my child because the last thing I could do for them was provide for them that dignity,” Wilder said. “Poor people who don’t have the assets or seek out the best services were taken advantage of.”

It is something his brother believes the owner should pay for.

“He deserves to spend the rest of his life tucked away,” Kessinger said.

The lawsuit seeks damages for the families’ losses as well as for the emotional and mental pain.

The cremated remains of 16 people were also found.

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