ADRIAN, Mich. – A grieving family wants to get their loved one’s remains, but they claim the funeral home won’t return his ashes.
“All they want is their father’s ashes, but they can’t get them,” -- that was the tip that came into our investigative unit and brought us to J. Gilbert Purse Funeral Home in Adrian.
Michael Pahl was diagnosed with Stage Four pancreatic cancer in February before he died May 5. Seven months after her father’s death and long after his family paid for the cremation services, Olivia Pahl said the funeral home won’t return the ashes to the family.
“So we trusted Purse Funeral Home to do the cremation services after he passed,” Pahl said. “And then now that the headstone is made, we can get access to his ashes and fulfill those final wishes that we spoke to him about before he passed.”
When attorney Steve Hyder was hired by the Pahl family, he didn’t think getting Michael Pahl’s ashes returned would be too complicated, but the business closed suddenly.
“The longer this drags out, the longer it can be for them to be misplaced, the more likely it could be for them to be misplaced,” Olivia Pahl said. “That’s my biggest fear is that something will happen.”
Local 4 found the state mortuary services license for Purse Funeral Home lapsed in October, so it’s unclear when, or if, the funeral home will open its doors again.
No one with the funeral home was willing to speak on camera, but owner Marilee Purse said over the phone that the Pahl family will get Michael Pahl’s ashes, but did not say when.