No charges in 3-body mix up at Springfield Mortuary, prosecutors say

The Greene County Prosecutor will not file charges in the case of a 2014 mix up at Springfield Mortuary.

The issue was made public in September when two graves were opened after a former employee of the mortuary told officials about the mix up.

In a memo explaining why it will not file charges, Chief Assistant Todd Myers said there is "no dispute" that the bodies were mixed up.

A body that was supposed to be cremated was instead buried. The body matching that grave was placed in another, and the boy that was supposed to be in that grave was cremated.

"Specifically, the death certificate of Ms. (Celia) Atchison indicates she was cremated," the memo says. "The DNA testing establishes that Ms. Atchison body was not cremated, but instead, her body was buried under the name of Ms. (Catherine) Rummerfield.

"Additionally, Ms. (Debra) Lemmon's death certificate indicates her body was buried when in fact, her body was cremated."

Rummerfield, 95, and Atchison, 88, were both from Ozark. Lemmon's obituary says she was 64 at the time of her death, when she was living in Stockton.

Prosecutors were asked to find out if the mortuary's owner, Brian Simmons, provided false information deliberately.

"In reviewing the reports, I have reached the conclusion that we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Simmons 'knowingly' provided false information," he wrote.

His explanation says that the whistle-blower, Karley Boston, is the only witness who alleges Simmons "affirmatively instructed that paperwork be switched to cover-up the fact the wrong body was removed from the mortuary by Brumback funeral home."

He also wrote that the mix up occurred in July 2014, but that Boston remained employed with the mortuary until January 2015 and didn't make any allegations until February.

"Ms. Boston alleged two other employees were present when Mr. Simmons gave instruction to provide false information on the paperwork by putting Ms. Lemmon's body with Ms. Atchison's paperwork," Myers wrote. "Both of those former employees, who are not related to Mr. Simmons, stated they were not present when the alleged instruction was provided."

Myers said Simmons "maintains he did not order any cover-up. He claims Ms. Boston is a disgruntled ex-employee."

At the time the mix-up became public, Simmons issued a statement on the situation.

"Words cannot express how apologetic we are to the families, that the bodies buried in their loved one's graves were not who they were originally identified to be," it says. "Those errors are being corrected, at our cost."

The statement says the mortuary service had changed some policies to avoid such an error again.

The memo from Myers highlights the problem of those past policies.

"It is clear from this investigation that the business practices of Springfield Mortuary lacked adequate control measures," it says. "However, lack of adequate controls is not criminal. It is my conclusion that there is not sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Simmons knowingly provided false information for the death certificates."

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