SAN ANTONIO – A shocking discovery led to reunions for two San Antonio families. The Deleon family claimed the Castillo Mission Funeral Home lost their grandmother’s body.
'No way it was her’: San Antonio family claims funeral home lost grandmother’s body
A second family claimed the same thing happened to them at Funeral Caring USA. Both families met for the first time Wednesday afternoon and were reunited with their loved ones.
“We thought we would never see her again, so we’re happy that she’s home," said Irene Blanco about her grandmother.
Dolores Guiterrez Deleon was expected to be laid to rest last Friday, but when her family opened the casket, the body of the woman inside was of someone else.
“The woman that we had in the casket that was presented to us, we knew she had a family, and they deserve to mourn her,” said Blanco.
The woman was identified as Rosita Esquivel. Her family said that her service was supposed to be held at Funeral Caring USA. However, after seeing photos of the woman in the casket, they knew that wasn’t their mother.
“Pictures say a thousand words. We know now positively that’s her now,” said Eugene Esquivel, Rosita's son.
Esquivel said he felt the ashes in the urn were not his mother's. The urn was given to Blanco and her family.
“'If this is a sign of something, please let me know?' And sure enough, it came out,” Esquivel recalled he had said to his mother posthumously.
Both families are now reunited with their loved ones and bonded for a lifetime.
“Hugs, prayers, anniversaries -- we’re here for them. We’re going to be here for them," Esquivel said.
Blanco said she and her family will always be grateful and thankful they have their grandmother home, just in time for Mother’s Day.
“We’re all together, and now we’re complete,” she said.
Funeral Caring USA and Castillo Mission Funeral Home both declined to comment for this story.
Deleon’s family has hired attorney Mark Greenwald to represent them. He is the same attorney who handled the case of Julie Mott, whose body was stolen from a different funeral home in San Antonio back in 2015.