Wrong body found in great-grandmother's casket

[December 31, 2009]  PROSPECT, Conn. (AP) -- A grieving family learned their 95-year-old great-grandmother had been cremated when they found a stranger's body in her casket, and a Connecticut funeral home is being investigated in the incident.

Relatives of Aurelie Tuccillo noticed the wrong body when they arrived at the Buckmiller Brothers Funeral Home in Prospect for calling hours Tuesday night.

Police said Wednesday that state and local officers found Tuccillo had "inadvertently been cremated."

Funeral home owner Wayne P. Buckmiller calls the mix-up "a most unfortunate incident."

He says the home is working with the family to resolve the situation.

Tuccillo's family did not immediately return a call for comment.

The state Department of Public Health is also investigating the incident.

[Associated Press]

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