Chicago Funeral Home Operators Sued as Medical Examiner Identifies 22 of 56 Decomposing Bodies

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has identified 22 of the 56 decomposing bodies discovered inside South Chicago Chapel earlier this month, notifying 18 families and releasing three sets of remains to funeral homes for burial, as a proposed class-action lawsuit adds to the state investigation into the couple who ran the chapel.

Chicago police were called to the funeral home in the 2900 block of East 95th Street around 2 p.m. on August 6 after the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation asked for help with a license investigation. Officers found 56 bodies in what the medical examiner's office described as various states of decomposition, along with more than 50 sets of cremated remains stored on the property. The facility was immediately barred from taking in any more bodies.

Among those identified: Gloria Anderson, 75; Toriano Broussard, 30; Tommie Lee Carter, 47; Raymond Delgado, 51; Terrance Finnie, 52; Sheila Gaines, 69; Eddie Griffin, 75; Bruce Hoskin, 64; Toni Meekey-Stith, 66; Shauniel Nelson, 47; Audrey Reed, 71; Darin Smart, 60; Daniel Thompson, 69; Wesley Thompson Jr., 86; James Wallace, 86; Derrick Willis, 62; Audette Young, 78; and Keith Allen Young, 48. Four more people have been identified but are not being named publicly because next of kin have not yet been reached.

Keith Young died in late July, and his body was supposed to be prepared at South Chicago Chapel for a wake and funeral at a West Side church. It never arrived. His relatives learned why only after investigators found the backlog of bodies at the chapel. Venus Vaughn, pastor of Body of Believers Congregation Church, stood with Young's family outside the medical examiner's office on what would have been his funeral day. Young's remains were later cleared and released to his family.

Vaughn said she has referred church members' families to the chapel for a decade without a single complaint. She is still waiting to learn whether her nephew is among the bodies recovered. "I haven't even thought that far yet," she said when asked what she wants to see happen to the people who ran the chapel. "It's going to be in the hands of the law, in the hands of God."

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has suspended the funeral director license of Johanna Morgan, who ran South Chicago Chapel and is listed in state records as its funeral director. Her husband, Clark Morgan, listed as the chapel's president, already had his funeral director and embalmer intern licenses revoked in 2024. That revocation followed the shutdown of Heights Crematory in Chicago Heights, where state investigators found roughly 100 improperly stored bodies, some piled on top of each other and stashed in trailers. More than 20 lawsuits have already been filed over that earlier case.

The Morgans' businesses are now the subject of a second, overlapping investigation. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza's office, which oversees crematory operations statewide, is looking into Bohemian National Cemetery on the North Side after inspectors found 35 improperly stored bodies and multiple pieces of malfunctioning equipment during a July 22 visit. A spokesperson for the comptroller's office said 22 of those 35 bodies came from Morgan-linked businesses, 12 of them traced directly to South Chicago Chapel and 10 more from Planet Green Cremations, a Glenwood storefront that contracted out cremations and was run by Johanna Morgan until it dissolved in May. Another 10 bodies at Bohemian came from a separate operator, Planet Green Cremations' contractor. The comptroller's office said all 35 bodies found at Bohemian have since been cremated and nearly all the remains returned to families. A funeral director had alerted state regulators on July 21 that Clark Morgan was dropping bodies off at Bohemian's crematory despite its broken equipment, triggering the inspection.

A proposed class-action lawsuit against South Chicago Chapel was filed in court this week, adding to the legal exposure already facing the Morgans over the Heights Crematory case. Attempts to reach the couple for comment have been unsuccessful, and no one answered at the chapel when reached about the new suit. No criminal charges have been filed against either Clark or Johanna Morgan as of this week, and the investigation is ongoing.

The medical examiner's office said it will cover cremation costs for any family that chooses that option for a loved one recovered from the chapel, and families can otherwise arrange burial through a funeral home of their choosing. Families searching for information can email MEOfamilyservices@cookcountyil.gov. As of this week, 34 of the 56 bodies remain unidentified, and the comptroller's office is still tracing where other remains from Morgan-linked businesses ended up.