Funeral director fails to deliver for immigrant families

Ramy Jadiel Ajualip Primero, the baby in his family, died unexpectedly at just 18 months old. He was rushed to the hospital after experiencing convulsions. A grim prognosis ensued. With no hope for recovery, the boy was taken off life support 15 days later.

In shock, Ramy’s parents were certain of one thing: They wanted to bury their baby in their native Guatemala, in the town they planned to return home to one day.

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center employee recommended Reid Van Ness, a funeral director and embalmer who spoke Spanish and had a reputation for reliably aiding Latino families in their time of grief — and a specialty in navigating the complex logistics of delivering bodies of the deceased from Tennessee to their native countries for burial.

Van Ness came to the boy’s hospital room. He told the family he would offer his services free of charge because they

had lost a child. He offered a discounted $900 coffin and he promised the baby would arrive in Guatemala 15 days later for a family burial.

Weeks passed. The toddler’s body didn’t arrive. The parents called Van Ness repeatedly.

When they reached him, they were told conflicting stories about the delay.

The body had been stopped in Miami due to a mix-up but was returned, Van Ness told them. He would reship the baby’s body soon.

He didn’t. The parents grew frantic. They approached Van Ness with an offer to pay him for his services, which included embalming, worried their discount was the cause of the delay. They asked Van Ness if he wanted them to take the boy to a different funeral home. He said there was no need.

In total, two months would pass until the parents were able to bury their child. On March 12, 2020, the body was transported on a flight to be laid to rest in Cementerio El Cacahuatal, in Cubulco, Guatemala, after the parents threatened Van Ness with a lawsuit, said Elvia, the baby’s mother, speaking in Spanish from her Goodlettsville home.

“We fought a lot with him. It was terrible,” she said.

The family would learn through other relatives and friends in Middle Tennessee they were not alone in their dealings with Van Ness.

HISTORY OF DELAYS

At least ten bodies Van Ness promised to send overseas for burial in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala were instead left in coolers at three Middle Tennessee funeral homes in 2019 and 2020, for periods ranging from two months to as long as 11 months, according to records obtained from the state’s Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.

Van Ness, 53, and the two funeral homes are now the subject of a federal lawsuit by the family of Freddy Aroldo Cristostomo Hernandez, a Robertson County man slain in October 2019. His body wasn’t returned home to Guatemala until a lawyer intervened, six months later.

The lawsuit alleges Van Ness and the funeral homes engaged in “egregious abuses of basic human dignity and respect for the dead and their grieving family member(s).”

“The abuse of these fundamental principles of respect and dignity occurred because of a shockingly callous indifference to the rights and status of the plaintiff and his deceased son because of their race and national origin.”

The lawsuit is seeking $4 million in compensation and damages.

Van Ness said Thursday in a phone interview he had not read the lawsuit but has been cooperating with attorneys to “help them piece together the information they need.”

He said he had been experiencing health problems.

“I have the beginning forms of some dementia,” he said. “The funeral homes threw me under the bus. They all knew I had issues with memory. They’re the licensed establishments with the licensed staff.”

“For me to know I hurt someone has hurt me tremendously,” he said. “It’s been heartbreaking.”

CANCELED FUNERALS, DISTRAUGHT FAMILIES

Frantic relatives and friends begged for answers. Funeral plans were canceled. Some of the bodies began to decay and smell, according to state records. In one instance, the family of the Robertson County man killed outside his home in October 2019 twice made the five-hour trip from their home to the Guatemala City Airport based on shipping details Van Ness provided. The body wasn’t on the plane either time. Van Ness later admitted the shipping details sent to the family had been faked, state records show.

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the transport of remains overseas since February, a result of coronavirus restrictions on both sides of the border involving deaths from the virus. Even the transports of those who have not died from coronavirus have been delayed, partly as a result of limited foreign consulate staffing to process paperwork.

But of the 10 bodies Van Ness failed to deliver for burial overseas, eight died in 2019 and early 2020 before those delays began.

Van Ness, licensed as an embalmer and a funeral director, once ran his own funeral home in the Woodbine section of Nashville, but in recent years worked as a “trade” embalmer, a type of roving contract worker that allowed him to serve immigrant families in at least half a dozen funeral homes in Shelbyville, Nashville, Lebanon and Murfreesboro.

He worked with families directly, but relied on at least two funeral homes to store bodies — Saddler Funeral Home & Crematory Services in Lebanon and Nelson & Sons Chapel in Murfreesboro and Shelbyville.

Van Ness has since surrendered his own funeral director license and embalmer license after attorneys for Hernandez, the man killed in Robertson County, contacted state officials then filed a formal complaint. A handwritten note faxed with a signed form surrendering the license on March 6 read “what all have been wanting and waiting for.”

Saddler Funeral Home, inspected by state officials, entered into a $15,000 settlement with the state over the violations discovered there, including six bodies Van Ness had brought for storage at the home that remained for up to 10 months, records show.