Families sue funeral home over shocking burial mix-up discovered watching live stream

NEW YORK (WKRC/WCBS/CNN Newsource) - Two families are suing a funeral home after a shocking mix-up led to the wrong bodies being sent for burial.

The Rivera Funeral Home in Corona, Queens, mistakenly sent the body of 96-year-old Carmen Maldonado to Guatemala, where 39-year-old Elder Emilio Garcia was supposed to be buried.

Garcia's family discovered the error while watching his funeral via live stream from Guatemala, realizing the body in the casket was not his but Maldonado's.

"When my family members opened the box, the casket they realized it wasn't him," said Leonor Valenta, Garcia's sister.

The Garcia family said the funeral home seemed unaware of Garcia's body's whereabouts. "What they did was really heartless because they were very stubborn with us. He never left the funeral home. He was there the whole time," said Valenta.

Attorney Philip Rizzuto, representing both families, said, "The funeral home denied that they made a mistake." He added, "I think the funeral home was hoping no one would find out about it. And they never would have told either family if this video didn't go viral."

The RG Ortiz Funeral Home, which owns Rivera and other locations, has been named in nearly 100 lawsuits and was cited by New York City for 82 violations last year. The Department of Health was considering fines and potential registration revocation.

"This was no mistake. This was a negligence on their part and something that cannot be forgiven," said Valenta.

An attorney for the funeral home company did not comment on the complaints. After ten days, the bodies were properly buried in the correct countries.