“This Has to Be a Nightmare”: Family Demands Answers After Grandmother Mistakenly Buried

Heartbroken family members were demanding answers after an East Los Angeles funeral home mixed up the body of their 87-year-old grandmother with someone else's, which led another family to mistakenly bury the grandmother.

"Sometimes I go to sleep and wake up thinking this has to be a nightmare," said Rocio Barajas, the woman's granddaughter, as she sobbed. "How can they mix people up? That's unbelievable."

The viewing for the grandmother was supposed to be this past Friday. But she was buried three weeks ago at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills by the other family under the wrong name.

"Now imagine the other family. They were mourning our grandmother and for them to find out, 'Oh, my God, we mourned the wrong person,' I'm pretty sure that's upsetting for them too," Barajas said.

Funeraria Latino Americana on Whittier Boulevard released a statement which reads in part, "The funeral home is very sorry for this honest mistake. Within two hours of the discovery of the mistake the next of kin of both families were advised of what occurred, in person, at their homes through a personal visit by two of the managers of the funeral home."

The family disputes that, saying no one from the funeral home came to their home.

As for the explanation the funeral home gave the family, the physical features and names of the two women were nearly identical.

"Our grandmother's name is Maria Mercedes Solorio. The other lady, her name is Maria Carmen Solis - completely different," said another granddaughter, Jenny Guido.

The family hopes to give their grandmother a proper burial this weekend.

"I really just want closure, I just want to move on. Give my grandma a proper burial, what she deserves and I just want this whole nightmare to be over," Barajas said.

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