Hearing held for families searching for closure after bodies found at Jeffersonville funeral home

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Some grieving families now hope to find closure in court. That's after dozens of bodies were found at a Jeffersonville funeral home.

It's part of an investigation into the Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Police said they found the remains of more than 30 people there, after complaints of a strong odor.

Now, grieving families hope they'll get answers inside the Clark County courthouse.

"On April 22, my husband passed at 5:30 in the evening, and I called Lankford to tell them he had passed and they needed to pick up his body from Baptist Hospital," said Cynthia Cape.

Cape was still grieving her husband when she received a shocking phone call last week.

"I immediately said, 'Who the hell is this,'" explained Cape. "The coroner told me they had my husband's body, he had been found at Lankford Funeral Home."

Cape says, instead of being cremated, her husband's remains were one of the bodies found inside the funeral home.

"The coroner in Clark County confirmed that our father's body was one of the 31 decomposing bodies that had sat in a funeral home for a month," said Amanda Humphrey.

Amanda and her brother Mark Humphrey got the same phone call about their father, who died in April.

"I think we didn't want to believe it. You know, we have ashes," said Amanda. "I'm not going to lie, I felt like it was a bad dream," said Mark.

The Humphreys say they were given an urn and held a celebration of life but learned, it was not their father's cremains.

"One or two, it could have been an honest mistake, you know, but this is ungodly. I mean, I hope the devil is waiting on him," said Mark.

For now, owner Randy Lankford has a court date and possible criminal charges waiting on him.

"We filed a lawsuit," said New Albany Attorney Marc Sedwick.

Sedwick and Jeffersonville Attorney Larry Wilder are representing several of the families. The attorneys got their first win in court on Wednesday.

"It was an emergency motion requesting the court judge to grant relief that Mr. Lankford show up on an expedited basis to preserve evidence related to this case."

Meanwhile, the funeral home is closed and the owner is missing in action, but family members hope to see him in court one day.

"You get charged with things or people sue you, those people have the right to come in the courtroom and make you look at them while you explain what it is they've done," said Wilder.

"Well, if I saw him, I would slap him and spit in his face," said Cape.

Lankford is scheduled to be in court on July 19 where he'll answer questions from attorneys regarding the class action lawsuit.

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