MONROVIA – Early last week the owner of Abraham Roberts Funeral home along with his staff were arrested by officers of the Liberia National Police to answer questions after video of secret burials allegedly done by the funeral went viral on social media.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
In the video, a man who is identified as a community leader can be seen narrating details of the event to some residents of the community where the corpses were to be secretly buried in a cemetery.
A vehicle bearing the name of the AB Roberts Funeral Parlor is also captured in the video, which was recorded at night. The decayed corpse is also shown in the video.
Some of the residents captured in the video are heard accusing the funeral home of frequently abandoning decayed corpse in the graveyard, that is located at the outskirt of the community.
The LNP said sources hinted them about the alleged actions of the funeral parlor, which prompted them to make the arrest of staff of the funeral home.
According to the LNP, it is investigating the manager of the Abraham Roberts Funeral Home for nightly disposal of two dead bodies in the Caldwell, New Georgia community.
On Tuesday, November 27, 2018, at 1300hrs, a herd belonging to the Abraham Roberts Funeral home was seen by some community residents allegedly disposing two corpses without the community’s consent.
According to the preliminary investigation, AB Roberts told the LNP that the bodies that were being disposed were abandoned at his funeral home for quite a long time and as a result began to decay.
From Police intervention and with the help of some community residents in Caldwell, the bodies have been re-deposited at the JFK hospital pending the outcome of the investigation.
No family member has come forth to claim any of the bodies and the police say only one of the bodies is recognizable.
The head of the funeral parlor has been bailed out by his lawyer but is still undergoing investigation, the LNP says.
The police said reports from the investigation will be released to the public as the secret burial done by the funeral parlor have instilled fears in members of the community.
It is not known when the report will be out but police have sent an SOS call for the family to proceed to the JFK to recognize the bodies.
The move by the LNP to promptly respond to tip off from the community based on a social media post is receiving some applauds.