Relatives sue over body left at Ind. funeral home

CROWN POINT – The family of a woman whose body was found in a vacant Indiana funeral home years after she supposedly had been cremated has sued the funeral director.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in a Lake County court by the family of 50-year-old Rosa Villarreal, who died in August 2006. It accuses the former owner of Serenity Gardens in Gary of fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit does not ask for specific damages. It alleges the funeral director, Darryl Cammack, charged the family $1,705 for a funeral and cremation and presented them with a coffee can full of ashes.

Cammack declined comment when contacted Wednesday.

Villarreal’s body was one of four decomposed bodies found in May at the funeral home, which closed in 2006 after Cammack’s license was revoked.