Funeral home worker fired for ‘disturbing’ photos with caskets: ‘Trying to go viral’
A 21-year-old Texas man lost his job at a funeral home after taking pictures with caskets and posting them to social media in hopes of internet fame.
Alexander’s Mortuary in Highlands confirmed to KPRC 2 that the unsettling photos of the now-former employee are real. In one photo, the man held a gun as he stood in front of closed caskets.
“The young man made a mistake trying to go viral. Trying to monetize and get money off of social media,” Derek Anderson, an employee at Alexander’s Mortuary, told the outlet. “We’re going to give him a little grace, but he has to suffer the consequences, termination.”
The man was not charged with a crime, but was immediately fired from his job following an emergency staff meeting where he admitted to posting the photos for clout.
“Plain and simple, he broke the rules and violated his non-disclosure agreement,” Anderson said.
Staff phones were collected and searched during an internal investigation after the incident.
In a separate incident, funeral home owner Melvin Alexander told the outlet that he is filing a police report against a female non-employee invited by the deceased’s family to cut their hair before the service.
“We allowed her to do what the family asked, cut the gentleman’s hair, get him ready. At that point, we allowed her to be in there alone. She uncovered the box and began to take these videos,” Anderson said. “We trusted her to go into there and do the job that the family asked her to do.”
KPRC 2 obtained but did not share the haircut video out of respect for the families. It shows a dressed man before a funeral, then pans to a nude woman.
“The lady that you see in the box that’s uncovered, that lady was covered up. She uncovered her, took her out of the box,” Anderson said. “She was being ready to go to cremation. The bottom box that you see is our cremations box. She was totally covered.”
The deceased’s family later contacted the mortuary to express concern and identify the person who recorded the video.
“She violated our trust. We know her. She’s been here before to do work. I am deeply hurt and sad,” Alexander said about the woman. “I’ve never had any type of blemish like this at this funeral home.”
The Independent has contacted the Texas Funeral Service Commission and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
