The Brief
- A Houston mother claims she has not received her infant daughter’s remains after nearly 15 months.
- Racquel Williams claims she paid Richardson Mortuary for her daughters’ remains in January 2024 but has not received them.
- Mother is considering taking legal action; a lawyer explains what families can do if they choose to file a lawsuit.
HOUSTON – Racquel Williams says her baby died 13.5 hours after being born, and she trusted Richardson Mortuary to cremate her child. Instead, nearly 15 months later, she has not received her child’s remains.
Now, she feels like she lost her baby twice.
“I wonder if my baby is there, is she secured, did he really cremate her like he was supposed to,” said Williams.
Richardson Mortuary: Mother claims funeral home kept her child’s remains
Timeline:
- Racquel Williams said she gave birth to her daughter on January 4th 2024, and her baby died January 5th as a premature baby in the hospital.
- Williams says on January 8th, Richardson Mortuary picked her daughter up from the hospital and that same day, she met the owner to pay for the cremation of her daughter.
“It wasn’t no additional price. He just told me to bring him $350. I was trying to give him $25 extra more but he said, ‘No, I’m good,’” Williams said. “All that he gave me was a little copy of the receipt baby saying that I paid for her cremation, said Williams. “You didn’t give me no number, nothing.”
- Racquel says 6 months after her daughter’s death, her baby’s father went to try and get answers, but was told they needed to pay more.
- The months following, she kept getting the runaround. She says it hurt because she saw how they took care of her stepfather in 2021, so she thought they would do the same for her child.
“He’s like, ‘Well, since I know you and since we already kind of have a history, I’ll charge you $350 because your baby was so small. It’s no need to have like a service or something,'” Williams said. …