Imagine attending the funeral of a loved one, and finding a stranger's body in his or her casket.
That's the nightmare a Columbus family says they experienced. They say it left them unable to heal from an already painful loss.
Ask Pam Merritt about her sister Nivina, and she will smile through her tears.
"She was my best friend, she was my Christian sister, and she was my natural sister. We just shared so much,” Merritt said.
Nivina Cargill died unexpectedly June 21.
"She had another cardiac arrest and things just went down from there,” Merritt said. “She never regained consciousness.”
And her family never got to say goodbye.
It made Nivina's funeral even more significant: their chance for that final goodbye.
The night before her funeral, Nivina's family went to Edwards Funeral Home on Parsons Ave. in Columbus for a private family viewing.
They approached the casket expecting to see her at peace, dressed in her favorite church outfit they'd chosen for her to be buried in.
What they saw instead left them stunned and heartsick.
"Who- who is this laying here in this clothing? This isn't our loved one,” Merritt said. “And then to have the comment made by the funeral director, ‘Are you sure?’ I mean, yes, we're sure. We know what my sister looks like. This is not her."
That funeral director was Monique Smoot, owner of Smoot Funeral Services, which shares space with Edwards Funeral Services.
Merritt said Smoot blamed the body mix-up on a paperwork error.
"Does this happen? For real? I've never heard of this happening before. So of course emotionally, you break down. You're crying, how did this happen? Where is my loved one?" Merritt asked.
She said it was five hours later that Smoot produced Nivina's body. By then, Merritt says, the emotional damage was done.
"You didn't give the dignity and respect the first time when you didn't get it right. I don't know what I'm going to see when I look into this casket again,” she said.
This week she and her family have filed suit against Smoot and Edwards. They say it's not about money, but about correcting a grievous wrong.
"When I close my eyes I see this person's face in my sister's clothing lying in this casket. That's not the memory I want to have of my sister."
Both Edwards Funeral Services and Smoot Funeral Services are named as defendants in the suit.
10TV spoke with Jeffrey Edwards, who says though the funeral was held in his building, it was handled and coordinated by Monique Smoot. Smoot did not return our calls for comment.