COLUMBUS, Ohio — Terri Sims sat and waited, Tuesday, alone in her car and alone in the parking lot outside the Wayne T. Lee Funeral Home in east Columbus.
She’s waiting for many things. Answers, mostly. Who killed her son? Why?
Tuesday, though, she was waiting on her son.
“I’m not OK,” she said. “I don’t think I will ever be OK.”
It’s been nine days since police say a fight escalated in the 1400 block of West Broad Street. Sims’s brother was also shot.
Sims’ 16-year-old son Ty’Sean Finch was killed. It’s been nine days since she’s seen him, saying she wasn’t even able to identify him at the hospital or at the Franklin County Coroner’s Office.
“I gave my baby a name,” she said. “Ty’Sean Finch. So, it’s important for me to see him, physically see him. That’s because I want to know, as a mother, that he’s OK.”
A few days after his death, Sims says she made arrangements with the Wayne T. Lee Funeral Home for Thursday, June 3.
The problem, she says, is that even though she filled out all necessary paperwork, a disconnect between the funeral home and the coroner’s office resulted in Finch’s body not being transferred in time for the funeral home to make that June 3 arrangement.
“I don’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Sims said.
Franklin County Coroner Anahi Ortiz said Tuesday in a statement to 10TV:
“In this case we have followed our protocol exactly. I can say that we notified the funeral home [Tuesday morning] immediately after Mr. Finch’s NOK (next of kin) formally identified him. It is up to the individual funeral home as to when they will pick up after the notification.”
Sims says the funeral home tried to get Finch’s body last Saturday, but the coroner’s office wouldn’t release it.
“I’m just very angry and frustrated to the point where I don’t have any more tears left to cry,” Sims said. “The only thing I want to do is just lay my son to rest.”
Sims says her son’s body was transferred to the funeral home around 9:30 Tuesday night. Because of that, Sims says she’s had to postpone funeral arrangements for Finch until June 9.