Brittany Jones claims owner of Lamb Funeral Home held her baby's body for ransom

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky., May 1 (UPI) —

A Kentucky family is accusing the director of a local funeral home with holding their dead baby’s remains hostage over an unpaid service bill.

Brittany Jones delivered a stillborn baby and attempted to collect his body from the Lamb Funeral Home. According to Jones, owner Dorris Lamb, who is also the elected coroner in Christian County, refused to release her son’s body unless her family paid for the transportation of the body.

"I never thought someone would hold our baby just for money, and we just wanted to bury him and try to move on," Jones told WSMV.

Jones and her husband couldn’t afford to bury their son at Lamb, so they were attempting to bring his remains to Todd County Funeral Home because the owner there, Shane Hessey, offered to handle the funeral services for free.

"We went to pick the body up, and he refused to give us the body because there was a balance owed on his transportation costs," Hessey said. "We waited until the next day before we got the remains."

Things got so heated, that the Joneses called 911 for police assistance in the matter.

Lamb disputed the family’s claims.

"When babies’ families or adults are distraught, sometimes they hear things or think things that aren’t necessarily true. This talking about monies, there was no monies involved at all on our behalf," said Lamb. "There was no charge here. For a ransom you have to have a demand. All we did is tell them they would need to come the next day."

The Kentucky Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has investigated Lamb in the past, and another family has brought similar claims against the funeral home.