Nevada resident accuses Calif. funeral home of neglect

A family is terribly upset at a funeral service provider for not handling their loved one’s body in a timely manner.

Sacramento resident Terrance Barton died at his home on Dec. 14. His brother John Holderman, who shared the same property as Barton, said the Vietnam veteran was transported with honor.

“They put a flag over his body, and that was the last I know,” Holderman said, in tears.

Barton’s daughter Carie Duckworth lives in Carson City, Nevada. She has been Barton’s primary caregiver for the last two years he was ill, and now has the power of attorney.

After hearing the news, Duckworth immediately drove to Sacramento to begin cremation arrangements with Sharer Nightingale Funeral Chapel. Their documents showed the Sacramento County Coroner had already cleared his death. The family then paid $633 service fee on Dec. 23.

“They had taken care of my mom’s remains when she passed,” Duckworth said. “They actually did a pretty decent job, and I was very happy with them back then.”

But this time, she said funeral director, Brandon Sharer, “pulled a 180.”

“He promised, ‘I guarantee he will be cremated by Tuesday,’ I said ‘O.K., I will be here next weekend,’ Next weekend, it wasn’t done,” she said. “You keep telling me the same line over and over, and you never answer my questions. I want to know where my father’s body is at.”

FOX40 visited Sharer Nightingale in Sacramento. No one was available. We did get a hold of Sharer on the phone.

In response, he told us, “No, I never promised anything. I mean, I tried. I said I tried to get them. I can’t remember now.”

Sharer said he knows where the body is, and Barton’s body will be available on Tuesday. He also said the reason for the delay was out of his hands, because the crematories were “backed up.”

To that, Duckworth said 36 days of “lying cold in a freezer is unacceptable.”

“My father died before the holidays, and there is more than one crematory in this town. He was paid in full. He never should have taken the money,” she said.

After two years of caring for her father and more than a month of figuring out his cremation services, Duckworth said she just wants to move on.

“I just want to take my dad’s ashes, and put them with my mom, and go home.”

FOX40 searched the Sacramento County Coroner’s records online, and found no record of Terrance Barton in their system.