Two siblings in Chicago have spoken about their anguish and frustration at learning that a funeral home mixed up the body of their deceased elder brother with that of a stranger, according to reports.
Tony and Ronnie Hill lost their older brother Carl Hill to natural causes on April 17, 2020, and up until recently believed they had laid him to rest at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip.
However, after a phone call from Gatling's Chapel, they heard that the funeral home had made a mistake with the 67-year-old's body.
The South Side funeral home told the brothers that the body buried at the cemetery was not Carl Hill.
Carl Hill's remains have been at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office for more than two and a half years.
Explaining the situation, a spokesperson said the medical examiner took jurisdiction of an unidentified decedent from Gatling's Chapel on September 18, 2020, five months after Carl Hill's death.
Chicago Police and Illinois State Police were unable to identify the man's body by fingerprints due to it already being in a state of decomposition.
Attempts to identify the body via facial recognition, dental records or information that was submitted to national databases also failed.
It was not until earlier this month that the FBI was able to positively identify the remains as Carl Hill using more sophisticated technology.
Speaking about the incident, Ronnie Hill said: "I put my brother at peace, I relaxed and I let it go.
"We go out there, talking to him and I am talking to somebody else, it is not even my brother.
"Carl don't deserve this, don't no family deserve to go through the situation of a body being held up instead of being in the ground at peace."
Tony Hill added: "He was a great brother. I mean, I idolized him, I looked up to him, I almost worshiped him.
"For him to be subject to this type of abuse in death..."
The brothers have said they have attempted to go to Gatling's Chapel to get further answers but have been unsuccessful.
Speaking to ABC7 Chicago, the funeral home said it cannot release any information about a client without the permission from the next of kin. In this case that would be Carl Hill's children.
Questions still remain about who is the individual who is buried at Restvale Cemetery in place of Carl Hill.
Newsweek has contacted Gatling's Chapel for comment via the contact form on its website for further comment.
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