Stricken widow fears worst over grim discovery at Georgia funeral home

A grieving Georgia widow has been left in despair after the director of a funeral home where her late husband was cremated was arrested for abusing corpses.

Chris Johnson, 39, the owner of Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services, was charged Sunday with 17 counts of abuse of a corpse after a gruesome discovery of 18 rotting bodies was discovered from a cooler at the facility.

The ordeal has become a living nightmare for family members of the recently deceased in the area, including Douglas native Donna Harper.

The 66-year-old widow now fears the worst after reading about the grotesque discovery in a Facebook post – and is working to have her husband’s ashes tested.

On Sunday, the owner of a Douglas funeral home was charged with 17 counts of abuse of a corpse after a horrific discovery of 18 rotting bodies uncovered from a cooler at the facility. Pictured: Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services in Douglas, Georgia

Along with the many distressed and decomposing bodies found in “various stages of decomposition,” investigators discovered “more than one child, a dog and a cat” stored in the cooler.

Deputies were serving an eviction notice at the time of the discovery because Johnson allegedly stopped paying rent on the property, leading to his removal.

The warrant for Johnson’s arrest stated that he “knowingly defaced a corpse while the body was being prepared for burial, display or cremation at a funeral home.”

It added that “deliberate negligence in his duties as director of a funeral home and willful disregard of proper storage” led to remains being kept for extended periods of time, resulting in serious disfigurement of 17 bodies.

Johnson was denied bail.

What started as an eviction notice quickly turned into a nightmare for 18 families, as many wonder if they even have the remains of their loved ones.

Donna Harper told it Atlanta-Journal Constitutionthat her husband, Gary, died in June and that his services were later held on July 3 at the chapel of Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services – the funeral home where authorities found the decomposing bodies.

After the services, her husband would be cremated and sometime afterward she received his ashes – or what she thought were his ashes.

Frightened in the wake of the disturbing revelation, Harper has since turned her husband’s ashes over to police as she seeks clarity on whether her husband was among the several bodies discovered or if his remains are in the urn she received months ago.

Donna Harper told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution that her husband, Gary, died in June and that his services were later held on July 3 at the chapel of Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services — the very funeral home where authorities found the decomposing bodies. Pictured: the late Gary Harper

After allegedly failing to pay rent, Johnson was kicked out of the family business

“I’m waiting for the call,” Harper anxiously told the publication on Tuesday. “It’s bad when you can’t sleep because you don’t know whether it’s your loved one or your loved ones who are rotting there.”

But it could still take a while as the bodies had to be transferred to a laboratory outside the city to undergo a thorough identification process, which would begin with the delivery of the last bodies Tuesday, said Coffee Deputy Chief Fred Cole County Sheriff’s Office.

“I’ll be honest with you: I hope the man rots in hell for what he did. … It takes a sick person, a very sick person, to do something like this,” Harper said, fighting through tears.

Earlier this year, Johnson ran for the post of county coroner but was defeated with just under 29 percent of the vote, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.

After the election, Johnson announced plans to run again in four years.

As of last week, no complaints against Johnson had ever been filed with the secretary of state, according to the agency’s website. As of now, it is not immediately clear whether or not Johnson has hired an attorney or entered a plea.

Johnson remains in police custody.