Chicago officials raised concerns about South Chicago Chapel a year
before discovery of 56 decomposing bodies, records show
[August 28, 2026]
By Casey Toner and Maggie Dougherty
CHICAGO — Nearly a year before 56 decomposing bodies were found at the
South Chicago Chapel, sparking outrage and calls for reform, a Chicago
alderperson’s office complained to city officials twice within a week
that residents were complaining about odors from the business and noted
in the second complaint that the business owner had a history of
mishandling human remains.
Yet when a city inspector visited the business two days after the first
complaint, he spent 20 minutes on the scene, took a few photos,
including one of an empty gurney in the funeral home’s parking lot,
dismissed the complaint after he was told that the smell came from a
burning garbage can outside — and gave no indication in his 67-word
narrative that he tried to go inside, according to the previously
unreported document, obtained by Illinois Answers Project and Capitol
News Illinois.
Chicago Ald. Peter Chico (10th) told the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this
month that the only complaints his office received about South Chicago
Chapel prior to the recent discovery of bodies were related to alleged
“gang funerals” held at the funeral home.
But new records show his office reported odor complaints and concerns
from residents about the facility as early as last September.
On Sept. 26, Chico’s office sent a request to the Chicago Department of
Business Affairs and Consumer Protection seeking information about the
funeral home’s business license after learning the couple that operated
the company, Clark and Johanna Morgan, had run Heights Crematory in
Chicago Heights. The state shut down the facility last year after
finding 100 improperly stored bodies on the site.
Chico’s office told the city in a 311 complaint: “We have received odor
complaints … from residents and were provided with some concerning
information regarding the business owner.” The complaint linked to a
news segment about the Morgans’ involvement at Heights Crematory.
A BACP spokesperson said the department checked to see whether the
funeral home had a license and reported back to Chico’s office that it
didn’t, because one would only be required if the funeral home was
selling retail goods such as caskets and flowers. There are over 53,000
active business licenses in Chicago, including more than 80 for
funeral-related enterprises.
Agency records show the inquiry was marked as “Completed” within seven
minutes of being opened.
The city did not refer Chico’s concern about the Morgans to the state
agency that regulates funeral homes —the Illinois Department of
Financial and Professional Regulation, or IDFPR. Asked whether the city
should have referred the concern to IDFPR, the BACP spokesperson noted,
“when the alderman reached out to BACP, we responded.”
The BACP also did not then investigate whether funeral products were
being sold without a license at the facility, because such an
investigation would first require a complaint, which the alderperson’s
office did not submit. It later conducted a review to confirm it did not
need a business license at the time Chicago police, acting on a tip,
discovered decomposing bodies at the site this August.
Chico’s office declined to comment on whether they contacted other state
agencies with their concerns or took any steps to shut down the funeral
home.
Chico previously told Block Club Chicago that he was aware of the
Morgans’ ownership of the troubled Heights Crematory and South Chicago
Chapel before the raid in August but he said he couldn’t remember
whether they were discussed at a community meeting he helped organize in
March to discuss the funeral home.
The new records raise questions about how the Morgans were able to
mishandle human remains at multiple locations while allegedly under
scrutiny by state and local officials. State officials have been quick
to point fingers and sidestep accountability for the regulatory
environment that allowed the Morgans to continue mishandling human
remains, with Gov. JB Pritzker blaming “bad actors” at the funeral home.
“What I have read so far is an indicator that there is somebody, it’s
not IDFPR (the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation), it’s somebody on the ground at this funeral home, some
people who have been doing terrible things,” Pritzker said.
An attorney representing the Morgans, who are being sued for mishandling
remains at both facilities, declined to comment.
Unidentified remains
A Cook County spokesperson said that nine of the 56 bodies found at
South Chicago Chapel remained unidentified as of Friday afternoon.
She said they are trying to identify the remaining bodies using records
for medical device implants and dental work. The earliest date of death
they could trace was April 19, 2026.
A state law, the Illinois’ Integrity in Death Care Act, took effect at
the start of last year and tightened regulations around the ‘chain of
custody’ of human remains by requiring funeral establishments to
maintain a system for correct identification of human remains when they
are in the facility’s possession.
The bill was ushered through the state General Assembly after the
discovery of extensive mishandling of bodies at a Carlinville funeral
home, where at least 80 families were given the wrong remains. IDFPR
allowed the funeral home director to continue operating for at least six
months after it received a complaint about decomposing bodies in his
care, revoking his license only after a local coroner went public with
concerns.
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An unattended gurney sits in the parking lot of South Chicago Chapel
during a Sept. 19, 2025, investigation of an odor complaint. (Photo
provided by the Chicago Department of Environment)
At the South Chicago Chapel, none of the remains from South Chicago
Chapel had tags listing the decedents’ full name and date of birth or
other unique identifiers, though some had funeral home or hospital tags.
Many had to be identified using fingerprints, according to the medical
examiner’s spokesperson.
IDFPR records show that the bodies were “kept in an unrefrigerated area
with deplorable conditions including rodent infestation, causing
decomposition and maggot infestation of the bodies.”
While state law requires crematories to maintain bodies in refrigerated
conditions, the same is not true for funeral homes, which are expected
to preserve bodies through embalming or cooling, or hold funerals in a
timely manner.
IDFPR revoked Clark Morgan’s funeral director and embalmer intern
license in 2024, and temporarily suspended Johanna Morgan’s funeral
director and embalmer license earlier this month after the discovery.
The Morgans have not been charged criminally, though an Illinois State
Police spokesperson said an investigation of the conduct at Heights
Crematory is ongoing after Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill
Burke initially declined to bring charges in the case. Chicago Police
said it is conducting an independent investigation regarding the Morgans’
handling of bodies at South Chicago Chapel.
Pointing fingers
Unlike many states, Illinois splits regulations of funeral homes and
crematories between two agencies, with IDFPR licensing funeral home
directors and embalmers, and the Illinois Comptroller’s office
overseeing crematories.
And because IDFPR regulates funeral home directors rather than funeral
home establishments, it does not conduct regular inspections of the
facilities — it only investigates if complaints are made.
Illinois is one of only four states in the U.S. that does not conduct
any regular inspections of licensed funeral homes or crematories, while
a majority of other states conduct either annual or biannual
inspections, sometimes unannounced, according to a recent review by the
Chicago Sun-Times.
IDFPR currently employs four investigators to investigate complaints
against funeral home directors and other professions, including a chief
who oversees the work. The agency plans to hire one additional
investigator this fiscal year.
Michael D. Sharkey is a licensed funeral director in multiple states as
well as an attorney who represents Illinois’ Funeral Directors
Association and the Funeral Directors Association in Minnesota, a state
with less than half the population of Illinois.
He said Minnesota has three full-time funeral home and crematory
investigators and recommended that Illinois hire more inspectors,
conduct regular unannounced inspections and condense its death care
industry oversight under one state agency.
“Good funeral homes don’t worry about inspections because they’re
compliant 24/7, 365,” Sharkey said. “It seems to me that in this case,
the good people of Illinois deserve better, and that this might be
something that is worth budgeting for.”
Garbage dumping
According to city data, the first waste-related complaint against South
Chicago Chapel was filed in January 2024. The complaint alleged that
food trays, old chairs, furniture, and open bags of piled garbage dumped
behind the funeral home were attracting rats.
Another 311 complaint filed in August 2025 alleged that the funeral home
garbage can had “dropped all the garbage” on the street and alley.
Ald. Chico’s office filed a 311 complaint alleging “open burning” at the
funeral home on Sept. 17, 2025.
Two days later, a Chicago Department of Environment inspector visited
the funeral home and called the resident who reported the burning to
Chico’s office. The resident informed him that the smell was the result
of someone burning his trash can, according to his report. He left 20
minutes later.
A spokesperson for the department said the inspection was sufficient,
because the inspector was sent to investigate an open burning complaint,
not the funeral home itself.
On Sept. 26, 2025, Chico’s office followed up seeking the business
license for the chapel.
The last 311 complaint against the funeral home was filed at 2:39 p.m.
on Aug. 6 detailing the grim discovery: Chicago police “found … bodies
decaying inside of a closed funeral home.”
Beth Hundsdorfer with CNI contributed reporting.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state
government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is
funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation.
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