Brain Found Among Personal Effects

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) – A man claims that when a funeral home returned him a bag of his late wife’s belongings, her brain was in the bag. The widower and his children, identified only by their initials in the complaint, seek punitive damages for corpse abuse, negligence, outrage, breach of contract and emotional distress.     The family sued the Cantrup/De Vargas Corp. dba De Vargas Funeral Home, its employee Vincent Salazar, Inman Shipping Worldwide, and Serenicare Funeral Home.     The wife died in an accident in Utah, and the funeral home made the arrangements for her body to be returned to New Mexico, according to the complaint in Bernalillo County Court.     The husband claims that the day after he retrieved his late wife’s belongings, he smelled a foul odor from the bag, which came from a smaller bag inside it, marked “brain.”     The brain had been extracted during a post-mortem examination and somehow ended up in the personal effects.     The family is represented by Richard Valle with Carter & Valle.