Family members whose loved ones were found in the Johnson Family Mortuary last July spoke out in court Monday.
After four days of testimony, the Tarrant County District Attorney's office rested its case against Dondre Johnson, the former Fort Worth funeral home owner, on Monday.
Johnson faces two felony theft charges for taking money for cremation services and then not delivering on them as promised. In many cases, loved ones received someone else's remains.
"At the time, I thought it was a misunderstanding," said Michelle Jones on the stand.
Jones' mother, Karen Pearl Jones, died in March 2014. Jones testified that she, with assistance from family and friends, paid Johnson Family Mortuary $3,025 for full funeral services, including cremation. She testified that she was satisfied with everything, until it took nearly six weeks to get her mother's ashes.
"He stated that there were 30 bodies ahead of hers and that it will take a while," Jones testified.
She said having never had a loved one cremated, she didn't know the process. When she finally got the remains, she didn't have any questions or concerns about them.
"I placed them on the countertop as if they were my mom," she testified.
She thought they were until news broke in July 2014. While she didn't believe it at first, before long it was determined one of the seven decomposing bodies found inside the Johnson Family Mortuary was her mother.
Earlier in the afternoon, a state official testified that the mortuary never entered any information on Jones, and several others, into a state database.
"If they were in charge of the services in terms of disposition, cremation, then they are responsible by law to file a death certificate," said Victor Farinelli, of the department of state health services.
Farinelli's testimony followed three funeral home employees, owners and directors. They discussed best practices and their interactions with Dondre Johnson, who used several local crematories for his services.
Richard Dalton, of Community Mortuary in Fort Worth, testified that those in the business knew which mortuaries were unreputable and that he had a feeling Johnson Family Mortuary could eventually "bite the dust."
Defense attorney Alex Kim made some points about how a funeral director in charge is the owner and takes ultimate responsibility for what happens at a mortuary.
Kim said during opening statements that his client's wife, Rachel Hardy Johnson, owned the mortuary and had the proper license and therefore the alleged thefts fall to her and not Dondre.
The defense will present its case on Tuesday morning.
