They thought she was cremated 3 years ago. Then her body was found at SC funeral home

A woman’s body that was supposed to have been cremated in 2015 was embalmed and unrefrigerated in a Spartanburg funeral home for the past three years.

Mary Alice Pitts Moore, formerly of Donalds, SC, died of natural causes in March 2015 at the age of 63, WYFF reported. At the time, her body was supposed to have been cremated, the TV station reported.

But on Friday, her family learned that hadn’t happened.

The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office was notified earlier this month that a body had been stored at the First Family Funeral Home for a concerning amount of time, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported.

The body was so badly decomposed it took the coroner’s office two weeks to identify it as Moore, according to the Herald-Journal.

The body lay covered in blankets on a wooden board behind a locked door, the Herald-Journal reported.

The body was embalmed but had not been refrigerated, and fragrant items had been placed around it to mask the smell, WSPA reported.

When one former employee of the funeral home noticed the body, other employees repeatedly told her, “don’t worry about it,” according to WSPA.

Moore’s family members were “understandably upset” to learn about her body being found, Coroner Rusty Clevenger said, according to WYFF.

No charges have been filed against anyone, but the State Law Enforcement Division and the state Attorney General’s office have been contacted about it, WSPA reported.

This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 12:44 PM with the headline "They thought she was cremated 3 years ago. Then her body was found at SC funeral home."