A wake had loved ones in dismay while viewing Regina Christophe’s body.
After pursuing a lawsuit against the John J. McManus and Sons Funeral Home alleging the 37-year-old’s body was left unrecognizable, Chantel Jean, mother of Christophe, spoke to a source in an exclusive interview about the incident that happened earlier this year.
“Her skin was coming off; she had a maggot coming
out of that one eye,” said Jean. “Everybody who came before me, left, all her family and friends who came left, they couldn’t take looking at her, and they couldn’t take the stench,” she described.“When they’re looking at that person in that casket, they should be looking close to when they were alive, not looking like a monster, not looking like their skin was coming out of their face,” Jean said.
As previously reported by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Christophe’s family hired attorney Kurt Robertson as the legal representative for the case.
The source also heard from Robertson during the virtual interview.
“This isn’t the first offense with this funeral home; it was just sloppy work on their part,” said Robertson.
“The core of our claim against the funeral home stems from what took place then and there,” Robertson said.
News 12 Bronx reported that the funeral home manager responded to the allegations, blaming the decayed body on factors such as the number of days the body was in the heat before it was brought to the medical examiner.
“At the end of the day, the funeral home put the body in the casket, the funeral home put the body out for display, it was displayed in their premises,” Robertson said in a recent interview.
As Jean continued to discuss the situation in the interview, she reflected on the moment and the final image she recalls of her daughter.
“I had to stop my grandsons from coming in and seeing their mother like that,” Jean said.
“I relive that all the time; that’s the last image of my daughter that I’ve seen,” she added.