James Hines: Cave Funeral Home Cuts Legs Of Corpse To Make It Fit In Casket

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Authorities revoked the licenses of a South Carolina funeral home and its director after he admitted one of his employees cut the legs of a 6-foot-7 man without the family's permission so the corpse would fit in a casket.

The state Board of Funeral Service voted unanimously Monday to close Cave Funeral Home in Allendale. The board also fined funeral director Michael Cave $500 and ordered him to pay $1,500 for the investigation.

In an agreement with the board, Cave said employees never told James Hines' family that his body might not fit in a standard casket. An unlicensed worker, Charles G. Cave, cut the legs with an electric saw without consulting relatives. Hines' widow has said his legs had been cut off between the ankle and calf and put back in the coffin, but the document didn't detail exactly what happened.

Michael Cave did not immediately return messages left at his home and business Tuesday. A phone number listed for a Charles Cave in Allendale was disconnected.

The funeral board is drawing up its final order, and several members refused to comment until the documents were signed by Cave and filed with the state. Whether Cave can ever reapply for his license will be determined in the final order, said state licensing spokesman Jim Knight.

Evidence also has been turned over to criminal investigators, but prosecutor Duffie Stone didn't return a message Tuesday. Under South Carolina law, destroying or desecrating human remains is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Hines, 60, died in October 2004 of skin cancer, and his family picked out a standard-sized casket at the funeral home. His wife, Ann Hines, said her husband's body was only shown from the chest up at his funeral. And no one suggested a longer casket.

Ann Hines said rumors about what happened to her husband's body started spreading soon after he was buried. Hines, an albino black man with several modest hits in the 1970s as a soul and funk guitarist with J. Hines and the Boys, was well-known in the town of 3,700 people about 75 miles southwest of Columbia. He became a preacher later in his life, playing his guitar during services at the church he built and on a nearby Christian radio station until his death.

The widow threatened to sue Cave Funeral Home and the business agreed to settle out of court as long as she did not tell anyone how much she received. Ann Hines said workers never told her what happened or apologized.

Authorities eventually caught wind of the rumor, leading a funeral service board investigator and county coroner to exhume Hines' body.

Ann Hines didn't return a phone message from The Associated Press on Tuesday, but she said last month the attention brought by the case made it seem like her husband had died all over again.

"It's been overwhelming," she said. "I've gotten lots of calls of support, but I've also heard from people who said I should have just let this go."

Comments

[miamia]

Sounds like they had the perfect opportunity to sell a larger casket.

[epiphany1234]

All taller than usual people should start specifying what they want done with their legs post mortem.

(What a weird world we live in.)

[JustMe133]

The nerve of some to tell this woman she should've let this go!! They should never allow this Funeral Home to open again and should send them to jail where they belong!!! It's all about the money with these people. No morals and no compassion for the living or the dead!

[WeMustSpeakOut]

Sickening, disrespectful and unprofessional - to say the least!

[RobinSeattle]

This was actually common centuries ago. So I'm not entirely surprised that it happens here at times. But it is still pretty gruesome stuff.

[Vegan Valorie]

Couldn't they just have been creative by bending his legs kinda like setting indian style?

[Benton]

How about cutting the coffin, extending it, and then put an ornamental structure over the area where you extended it if you cannot match the wood.

[aloha43]

That was my first thought.

Ewwww.

[oakley9]

Sad story, but didn't the wife order the coffin?

[elthelight]

I am appauled by the most insensitive remarks, the mockery made of such inconsiderate and unprofessional behavior. What a cold-hearted society we have become---absolutely no respect for our fellowman---dead or alive. A total lack of compassion and empathy. Heaven help us ALL!

[Kmuzu]

You do know what dead is? It is impossible to insult the dead .. because they're .. dead. I think the greater insult here is polluting our land with the dangerous preservative chemicals they fill the bodies with. Better just to wrap em in hemp paper and throw them in a volcano.

[JustMe133]

These cold and horrible comments got to be coming from the type of people who hang out at Faux News!!

[xmw]

How crass, rude and ignorant most of these post are. if it was your family you may be pissed too.

[Benton]

Its always easy to talk tough when you lack empathy. I think that is what Obama was talking about. Without empathy you are a troglodyte.

[Puffin16]

The evidence points to the widow not wanting to pay extra for a longer casket, and thus the compromise with the funeral home. Only they didn't know that gossip would sink their plan.

[nowRnever]

That was my thought Puffin16. I can't imagine the funeral home didn't tell the widow that the man would need a longer than standard casket - given his height. And she probably just didn't want to pay the extra cost.

[Donns]

I understand the Airline industry is interested in hiring this Funeral Home as consultans to help them make leg room shorter

[jackjack]

The family KNEW that their loved one was extra tall. When they were looking for the casket that should have been on their lists of questions..."BY THE WAY-how long are these things??" The funeral home was wrong nonetheless.

[Billpoch]

Why for being creative?

[JohntheElder]

For those who don't understand why respect is shown to the body of the deceased, may I point out that it is often due to one's own religous beliefs. Roman Catholics are taught that through the sacrament of Baptism, the body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. Hence, as God's creation, it is sacred and is treated with respect in life and in death. In most religions and cultures, desecration of the body is forbidden. Simply, because you don't understand that thinking or disagree with it, is no reason to disparrage those who hold to showing the dead that respect.

[Kmuzu]

That's why religion is a mental disorder.

[aloha43]

Good comeback.

[TheVripper]

Wow, life imitates art. This is exactly what happened in the Tales From the Crypt episode, "Fitting Punishment", where a greedy funeral director cuts the legs off the nephew he killed.