Inset: Torreon Williams (Holloman-Brown Funeral Home). Background: Snellings Funeral Home in Chesapeake, Virginia (WAVY/YouTube).
A Virginia mother is suing a funeral home some three years after she and family approached her son”s casket to the stomach-churning sight of his face, nose and mouth allegedly “covered with and consumed by clumps of maggots.”
Plaintiff Tabitha Worrell recently filed the lawsuit against Snelling Funeral Home in Chesapeake and its owner Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home in Norfolk. She’s demanding $5 million from the funeral home for breach of contract and negligence.
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Worrell’s son Torreon Williams died at the age of 24 in a car accident on May 2, 2022. The family made a $3,000 down payment to Snelling Funeral Home to handle the arrangements, a lawsuit first obtained by local NBC affiliate WAVY states.
A week after Williams’ death, the family had a viewing and funeral at Snelling Funeral Home.
“As mourners approached the body of Torreon Williams, these people noticed that Torreon Williams’ body, particularly his face, nose and mouth, were covered with and consumed by clumps of maggots,” the lawsuit said.
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It appeared the maggots had been on the body for a “significant period of time and had been purposely ignored” by funeral home staff, plaintiff lawyers claim. The maggots had “burrowed into holes in his cheek and moth that had not existed previously,” the suit said.
As the incident unfolded, an employee allegedly placed her hands on Worrell and said “don’t you make a scene.” Another employee allegedly said the “flies got to him.”
Worrell and her attorneys claim the funeral home failed to “adequately prepare, preserve and inspect” the body before the viewing. Plaintiffs believe the defendants did not store Williams in a sealed refrigerator and thus exposed to elements such as flies and maggots.
Since seeing her son’s body in that manner, Worrell has suffered “severe mental and emotional trauma” that has required psychological treatment, her lawyers said. She experiences sleeplessness, anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks, the lawyers wrote.
“They provided this family with a grotesque freak show,” Worrell’s attorney Kevin Sharp told WAVY. “Maggots pouring out of this young man’s nose. Maggots in his mouth, and on his face.”
Sharp said Worrell was also stunned by the way the staff member told her not to make a scene.
“They almost seemed to say, ‘You don’t overreact here. You’re the one to blame,’ not what they had done to her son.” Sharp told the outlet.
Casey Jones, the CEO of the funeral homes, released the following statement to WAVY.
“The unexpected passing of Torreon Williams is tragic, and we extend our sincere condolences to his family. However, because the events following his death are the subject of ongoing litigation, we do not believe it is appropriate to comment publicly at this time.”
