California Funeral Home Throws Remains Of Stillborn Baby Girl In Trash; Body Still Missing

Lodi, California -- A California couple is desperately hoping to find out where their daughter's remains are after a funeral home threw the stillborn baby's body in the trash.

The remains of Amiliana-Rose Navarro Romero were kept at the Cherokee Memorial Funeral Home in Lodi following her stillbirth in June, KCRA 3 reported. However, the baby's parents, Mari Jo Planas and Everardo Munoz, said their daughter's remains are currently missing.

The funeral home's staff, which reportedly couldn't find Amiliana-Rose's body, informed authorities on July 16 that a "fetus was missing from their storage area," Lodi Police Department said in a statement released on Facebook.

Surveillance footage then revealed that the remains, placed in a waste container, were thrown out on July 5, about two weeks before the family learned about the body's disappearance.

Investigators also found that "an employee from a contracted transport service discarded an item containing the fetus into a waste container," according to the police department.

Mari and Everardo said they recently found out about the incident and had to postpone their daughter's funeral, which was supposed to be held Monday.

"I just want her," Munoz told KCRA 3. "As a mom, you want to protect all your kids, and this is my first daughter, and I couldn't even have her alive. Now, I couldn't even have her as a whole."

"I don't have her alive. I don't even have her, like passed away, as her body," the emotional mother said further. "I don't have anywhere to go to talk to her, to see her, and that's the hardest thing is just I have nothing."

The parents sat with the police and saw a video of their daughter's remains being thrown away.

"That's how they handled her body after she passed away," a separate KCRA 3 report quoted Munoz as saying. "Like she was trash. Like she was nothing."

Police said a landfill was searched for the child's remains, but nothing was found. The employees involved in the incident were also questioned.

The San Joaquin District Attorney's Office will determine if charges will be filed in connection with Amiliana-Rose's body going missing. The investigation is still underway.

The funeral home released a statement in light of the incident.

"Cherokee Memorial is aware of a situation that has arisen with a grieving family we are currently serving," it said in a statement provided to KCRA 3. "We are working closely with the family, law enforcement and others involved to investigate the incident and resolve the issue quickly."

Meanwhile, the general manager of the funeral home, Tori Monforte, said that due to the ongoing probe, mortuary officials were unable to disclose information about the case, including the name of the employee, AP News reported.