56 Decomposing Bodies Found at Chicago Funeral Home That State Had Already Flagged Once Before

More than 50 bodies were found decomposing in a South Side Chicago funeral home this week, and the people running it had already been caught doing this once before.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said it was alerted by state and local officials Thursday to improperly stored bodies at South Chicago Chapel, near 95th Street and Exchange Avenue. Investigators and forensic pathologists who responded found 56 decedents in various states of decomposition, according to the Associated Press, as reported by CBC News.

The smell had been there for months. A neighbor identified only as "V" told CBS News Chicago she's lived behind the funeral home for about a year and constantly smelled something rotten. "It just, like, stinks all the time," she said. Another neighbor, Valkiery Velez, who lives next door with a 3-year-old, said the same thing: the smell never went away the whole year she's lived there.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation suspended the funeral director's license of Johanna Morgan on Wednesday, one day before the bodies were discovered. The agency said her "continued practice is a danger to the public safety, interest and welfare," citing bodies kept in an unrefrigerated area with rodent infestation, decomposition, and maggots, according to state records cited by CBS News and the Associated Press.

State business records show Morgan incorporated South Chicago Chapel Inc. in 2022. Clark X. Morgan is listed as the company's president. Illinois regulators had already revoked Clark Morgan's own funeral director license in 2024 and fined him $10,000 for practicing with an expired license and unspecified unprofessional conduct, according to the Associated Press.

This is not the first time the Morgans have been caught doing this. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said the couple previously ran a crematory in Chicago Heights that had its license revoked last year after authorities found improperly stored bodies and hundreds of cremated remains that were never returned to grieving families. Mendoza said bodies at that facility were stacked on top of each other, unrefrigerated. "Horrified. Again," Mendoza said in a statement Friday, calling the funeral home discovery "heartbreaking and an abomination."

State regulators already knew Clark Morgan had a track record of mishandling remains and abusing licenses. Somehow Johanna Morgan was still permitted to run a second facility that ended up doing the exact same thing to over 50 families.

No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed as of this reporting. Chicago police say detectives are investigating, and police also had to walk back an earlier statement that incorrectly said fire officials had declared the scene a hazardous materials incident, according to the Associated Press.

Staff from an unrelated funeral home, Emmanuel Funeral Home & Cremation Services, showed up Thursday evening to pick up a body they'd arranged to transfer, unaware anything was wrong. "We talked to them the first time, they picked up, they talked to us, they said they'd give us a call back. After that, there was no call," Pastor Christopher Jennings told CBS News Chicago. They decided to do a wellness check. That's how they found out.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said staff are now working through identification records and death certificates for the 56 bodies, a process officials said could take several days. Family notifications will follow once identifications are confirmed, the office said.

Coverage across outlets has been consistent on the core facts, though Fox News and the Associated Press wire copy (carried by Capitol News Illinois and CBC) both emphasized the Morgans' prior crematory shutdown more prominently than CBS News' initial reporting, which focused more heavily on neighbor accounts and the timeline of Johanna Morgan's license status.

Several questions remain. Why was Johanna Morgan allowed to operate a second death-care facility after her husband's license was already revoked and fined for misconduct? Whether Illinois regulators had any complaints or inspection red flags on South Chicago Chapel before neighbors started calling the city about the smell. And whether any criminal charges will follow, given that no arrests have been announced and the medical examiner's office has not yet finished identifying the dead.