He did worry at the time about getting caught, he said, because the practice—which Sconce alleged is common in the cremation industry—was a crime under the state’s Health and Safety Code.
Meanwhile, the National Funeral Directors Association said in response to The Mortician that, though “the actions chronicled in this documentary are both horrifying and real,” they are not indicative of the business itself.
“It’s important to remember that the subject of this documentary is not representative of the funeral profession as a whole,” the organization said in a May 30 statement. “Every day, tens of thousands of funeral directors work around the clock to help families take the first steps toward healing following the death of a loved one. With care, compassion and integrity, they help families create meaningful funeral and memorial services that reflect their loved one’s personal values, interests and experiences.”
Sconce “stupidly justified” what he was up to, he explained in the series, thinking “nobody cares about these people anyway. Most of my cases were scatter-at-sea, no visitors, no viewing.”
As for the remains returned to loved ones, Sconce maintained that it still didn’t really matter what was in that urn. “People just got to be more in control of their emotions,” he said, “because that’s not your loved one anymore and it never has been. Love ’em when they’re here, period.”
But mixing up ashes was just the tip of the iceberg. And as the June 15 series finale suggested, he may have had even more skeletons in the close than previously known.
Here is the jaw-dropping story of The Mortician:
