General
MEDLEY COMMUNICATIONS
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AVIVA Children's Services
Monitor: Parent-Child Visits General
Drexel Height Fire District
Firefighter

ALTON, Ill. — State regulators have revoked the license of a funeral home owner they say failed to properly prepare the body of a decorated military veteran whose remains were found shrouded by little more than a bloody covering in the casket.

Roy Williams also showed up for services apparently wearing the dress hat that Lloyd Joseph "Kenny" White was supposed to be buried in and disappeared with the remains for hours, according to authorities.

In a revocation order signed Jan. 5 and made public Wednesday, the state Division of Professional Regulation followed the recommendation of the funeral directors board, which said that Williams' handling of the 58-year-old's body reflected "incompetence and untrustworthiness."

White's widow, 55-year-old Helen, said that while she was pleased with the action against Williams, "I wish he could do some jail time, too."

"Right now, I despise him," she said Friday. "How many families had been done like that before he finally got caught?"

The board said that at the Oct. 17, 2005 funeral, Williams refused to open the casket for viewing, even though Helen White had paid for an open-casket visitation. Her husband was a former Marine awarded two Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War. When she insisted on an open casket, Williams let her view the body briefly after the service.

The body was found wrapped in a stained sheet or blanket and was not wearing the suit that Williams had provided, the board said. His face lacked makeup and appeared swollen.

"Every day, when I think about the way the casket was opened, the way (my husband) wasn't dressed, the bloody sheet," Helen White said, her voice trailing off. "It's still a nightmare."

When Helen White demanded that Williams let her find another funeral home, Williams drove off with the body and disappeared, according to police and the report.

Police later found the body at the mortuary and another funeral director properly prepared White's body for public viewing.

Williams could not be reached for comment Friday. The telephone at his funeral home in this Mississippi River city about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis has been disconnected.