July 29, 2025
Two funeral homes are facing a lawsuit over the handling of a deceased veteran’s remains.
The family of a fallen veteran is suing funeral homes in Philadelphia and Georgia after they were given their deceased son’s brain in a cardboard box.
Lawrence and Abbey Butler filed the lawsuit against Nix & Nix Funeral Homes in Philadelphia and Southern Cremations & Funerals in Georgia, alleging that their son, Timothy Garlington’s, remains were mishandled after he died in November 2023, Fox 5 Atlanta reports. Garlington, 56, a Philadelphia native, passed away in Georgia, and his parents arranged for his funeral services to be held in his hometown.
According to the lawsuit, the Butlers hired Southern Cremations & Funerals in Georgia to prepare and transport Garlington’s body to Nix & Nix Funeral Homes in Philadelphia on Nov. 20, 2023. When they later received their son’s personal belongings from Nix, they discovered a sealed, unmarked box.
The couple said they unknowingly transported the box in their car for days before noticing a foul odor and leaking fluid. Only after contacting the Georgia funeral home did they learn the box contained their son’s brain.
“After a few days the box started smelling like what they said death, and when they grabbed the box it was covered in a fluid that got all over them and they took it in the home and put it on the back porch,” the family’s Attorney, L. Chris Stewart, said during a July 24 press conference. “Not knowing what it was, they inquired with Southern Cremations in Georgia, and they were informed that it was their son’s brain.”
The family is suing both funeral homes, accusing them of gross misconduct and emotional distress. Stewart says the grieving parents were left devastated.
“The family has been destroyed twice,” he said.
“It was and it is still in my heart,” Lawrence Butler said through tears. “That I got in my car and I smelled death. I just, again, as our attorney said, we just pray that this doesn’t ever happen to anyone else again. And it’s just, I had to get rid of that car. I just couldn’t stand the idea that the remains were in that car.”
Nix & Nix Funeral Home owner Julian Nix has cleared his business of any wrongdoing, saying he contacted state officials after discovering the condition of the remains.
“Any body parts should be in the body. I don’t understand why they would send his brains in a box, a regular box,” Nix said. “We immediately reported it to the state board and the medical examiner for inspection. When the state board investigated, they said that we did everything correct.”
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