Funeral home, manager, shut down after maggots, decomposing bodies found

FLINT, Mich. (WJBK/AP) - A Michigan funeral home and its manager are no longer licensed to operate after inspectors found decomposing corpses and unsanitary conditions at the facility.

The Flint Journal reports that Swanson Funeral Home in Flint and O'Neil Swanson II also were fined a total of $34,100.

The state Board of Examiners in Mortuary Science voted to remove the licenses last week. A final order is expected this week.

The funeral home was closed in July after maggots were found on the floor of a garage where unrefrigerated bodies were being stored.

Unrefrigerated human bodies were stored in the un-air-conditioned garage, some for more than 90 days and up to five months. The building smelled of decomposing bodies. The preparation room was unsanitary and lacked equipment and supplies necessary for embalming.

Blood- and fluid-stained casket pillows were lying in the hallway.

Licensing officials say no one appeared on behalf of Swanson or the funeral home at last week's hearing or an administrative hearing in December.

The Associated Press could not find a home telephone number for O'Neil Swanson.