JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Another family has filed a lawsuit against the owner of a southern Indiana funeral home where dozens of bodies were found decomposing earlier this year.
The lawsuit says 60-year-old Robert Whitfield's body was among those found at Lankford Funeral Home in Jeffersonville, Indiana after a July police search.
Whitfield died in March 2021, after which, his body was sent to Lankford Funeral Home, according to a new lawsuit, filed by his wife, Jennifer.
"Robert's family had a reasonable expectation that his remains would be cared for," the lawsuit states. "That his body would be treated with dignity and respect."
According to the lawsuit, the family later contacted Randy Lankford, the funeral home's owner, wanting to know where Whitfield's remains were.
Lankford told them Whitfield had been cremated as requested. Then the family was sent "materials" that the funeral home claimed to be Whitfield, according to the lawsuit.
"This was totally false," the lawsuit said. "To this day it is unknown if Robert's family received another decedent's remains or non-human remains."
In July, police searched Lankford Funeral Home and discovered more than 30 decomposing bodies and the cremated remains of numerous other bodies.
The lawsuit says authorities notified Whitfield's family that his body was among the neglected corpses. His wife had to provide DNA evidence to confirm Robert's remains.
Whitfield's family is requesting that the case go before a jury, adding that Lankford's actions were "willful and wanton misconduct" and that he "acted maliciously, fraudulently and with gross negligence."
The latest legal action adds on to the numerous other lawsuits filed by the families whose loved ones' remains were found inside the funeral home.
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