A suspicious casket, a foul odor, and a local family in need of answers

The whole funeral had been strange.

The hearse arrived in Fairhope from Prichard an hour late.

Two Memorial Funeral Home employees shunned the pall bearers, bringing Cora Mae Campbell’s casket into the church themselves.

Her family began to suspect there was no one in the casket.

So they told the Memorial Funeral Home employee this:

"The family would like to look at the body once we get to the cemetery,” says Lloyd Durgin, Cora Mae’s son-in-law. “He said, oh, no problem. He slammed the door to the hearse, and he shot out like a bat out of hell."

And when they later gathered at the graveside, they noticed a very unpleasant odor. They would soon discover why, when, as they demanded, the casket was opened.

"When they opened it,” he says, “the odor, the smell that came out of that coffin... flies absolutely came out of the coffin. And the guy that was holding the coffin open started fanning flies. And my brother-in-law says close it down. It smelled too bad."

But Cora Mae’s daughter Lula didn't want them to close the lid. She wanted to see if the body inside was her mother.

This time, it was.

"Another one of my daughters walked over to me before I got up and said, mom... it's mama. I said, my mama? The real mama? She said, yes."

But what she noticed next would chill her to the bone.

"It was her. But she But she was horrible looking, like her flesh was coming from her face." -as if the body was in a state of decay.

But it should have been embalmed and kept in a cooler at the funeral home.

It would be after the funeral, after connecting with another family on line, that members of that family would share with Cora Mae’s granddaughter this horrific revelation.

"Memorial reached out to us and said we buried the wrong person. Our granny is still in the cooler.,” recalls April Henry, Lula and Lloyd’s daughter. “This was the sweet lady they tried to tell us was our granny. And that was my granny in another outfit. And it blew my mind."

Cora Mae Campbell's family now believes she was buried in that woman's place, then quickly exhumed just before her own graveside service so she’d show up for it.

"I said, did you guys have a funeral?,” April recalls asking of the other family. “And he said, yes man, we did. I'm sorry. I said when? He said Saturday. I said Today is Saturday. You mean last week? He said, yes, ma’am, I'm sorry. I said, you mean to tell me my granny has been buried for a week? he said, yes ma’am."

And there are other clues that indicate something is amiss.

Cora Mae’s daughter Lula says the funeral employee, JoJo Bonner, mentioned her mother's teeth and overbite.

But Cora Mae Campbell wore dentures that were still at her home.

And now, the Mobile County Sheriff's Office is investigating the possibility that this involves, not just two families, but a third, releasing the following statement:

"We are currently investigating in coordination with the Alabama Board of Funeral Service. We have spoken with both families, and are attempting to identify/determine reports of a potential third family. This investigation is ongoing and we welcome any additional information. You may contact us by phone, 251-574-8633 or go to our website, www.mobileso.com/crimetips ."