A grief-stricken Tennessee woman allegedly received her late husband’s belongings covered in his brain matter from a local funeral home after he was cremated, according to a disturbing lawsuit.
Sheila McGilvrey, of Blountville, claims she was handed her husband, Richard Pretzeus’ clothes inside a brown sack stamped with the word “clothing” in September of last year — a week after he tragically took his own life — only to make the sickening discovery of “chunks of brain” inside a white plastic trash bag.
“It was a brown sack, and it just was stapled, had the word ‘clothing’ stamped on it,” McGilvrey told WJHL. “I open that brown sack and on the inside was a white plastic trash bag.
“The cinch-tie ones, you know, you have to kind of put your fingers in that little hole to pull it back open, and when I did that, my fingers kind of raked across something.”
When McGilvrey glanced down “it looked to be chunks of brain matter on top of the pile of clothing.”
The widow promptly passed out — before her son helped her out of the room and disposed of the bag in an outdoor fire pit.
The lawsuit, obtained by the outlet, alleges that McGilvrey received the clothing four days after Pretzeus committed suicide right outside the couple’s home.
His clothing was also covered in a “sticky bodily fluid,” according to McGilvrey.
“It took a long time for me to process what happened because it’s just mind-blowing,” she said.
“It’s so unbelievable, you can imagine. So, after that, I reached out to several different agencies.”
Authorities brushed her shocking discovery as a mere accident that didn’t require consequences.
When McGilvrey reached out to the National Association of Medical Examiners (N.A.M.E.) — the organization told her the medical examiner was to blame for the disastrous mishap.
“N.A.M.E. told me that it must have been an oversight … on their medical examiner’s part,” McGilvrey said.
“So that’s basically the gist of the email that they sent back.”
An autopsy was performed by contractor William L. Jenkins Forensic Center, a component of East Tennessee State University.
The forensic center only offers forensic autopsy services in Sullivan County, not medical examiner services. It is unclear who the medical examiner was.
McGilvrey and her son are suing Weaver Funeral Home for $2.2 million claiming the incident caused them “severe emotional distress and suffering.”
Weaver Funeral Home and McGilvrey declined The Post’s request for comment.
Sullivan County District Attorney Barry Staubus told WJHL that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looked into the accident, but did not find any criminal wrongdoing.
N.A.M.E., the Sullivan County Medical Examiner’s Office and William L. Jenkins Forensic Center did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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