Rasp
Senior Editor
Klansman wanted kremation, family fights it
Family Says Coroner Won't Release Body To Them
Sister Says She Was Told Cousin Claimed Body
INDIANAPOLIS -- A mother said Saturday she got an anonymous call that her son was dead and that the coroner planned to release his body to someone she does not know.
The family of Albert Capps (pictured), 41, spent hours on the phone after the Friday call trying to confirm the information and hours wondering why his next of kin was not notified.
Capps' family said he was a member of white supremacist groups the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation.
Late Saturday, Capps' mother, Laura Pickering, and sister, Grace Moran, were told by Capps' friends that his body was released to a funeral home and that Capps' plan was to have his body cremated, with the remains given to the Klan, something the family intends to fight.
Laura Pickering said the woman who called to tell her of Capps' death said that she was there when he died. Capps had recently called his mother.
"He said, 'I've got three to six months to live and I'll see you in heaven,'" Pickering said. "That's the last I heard from him."
The Marion County Coroner's Office confirmed that Capps died in a home on Indianapolis' southwest side on Dec. 29. His sister, Grace Moran, called the office to get information.
"She checked and said, 'Yes, we have him and he has been here a week.' I said, 'How do I claim his body?' and she said, 'Somebody else has already claimed him,'" Moran said. "She said a cousin. I said, 'He don't have no cousins. We are his immediate family.'"
Moran said she tried to convince the woman on the phone that she was part of Capps' immediate family.
"I just don't know what do now. My fear is that I am going to get down to that morgue ... and he is going to be gone and I am not going to know who's got him," Moran said.
Capps had not been in contact with his family for years. His past includes childhood abuse, teenage mischief and finally, a life of crime, Jackson reported.
"I always was scared to death that a policeman was going to come to the door and say, 'Do you have a brother, Albert Capps? He's dead.' But I never, ever thought we would hear about it this way. They're releasing him to strangers," Moran said. "Even though he was hateful and mean, he is still our brother and her son. No mother can rest knowing her son has not been put to rest properly."
Family Says Coroner Won't Release Body To Them
Sister Says She Was Told Cousin Claimed Body
INDIANAPOLIS -- A mother said Saturday she got an anonymous call that her son was dead and that the coroner planned to release his body to someone she does not know.
The family of Albert Capps (pictured), 41, spent hours on the phone after the Friday call trying to confirm the information and hours wondering why his next of kin was not notified.
Capps' family said he was a member of white supremacist groups the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation.
Late Saturday, Capps' mother, Laura Pickering, and sister, Grace Moran, were told by Capps' friends that his body was released to a funeral home and that Capps' plan was to have his body cremated, with the remains given to the Klan, something the family intends to fight.
Laura Pickering said the woman who called to tell her of Capps' death said that she was there when he died. Capps had recently called his mother.
"He said, 'I've got three to six months to live and I'll see you in heaven,'" Pickering said. "That's the last I heard from him."
The Marion County Coroner's Office confirmed that Capps died in a home on Indianapolis' southwest side on Dec. 29. His sister, Grace Moran, called the office to get information.
"She checked and said, 'Yes, we have him and he has been here a week.' I said, 'How do I claim his body?' and she said, 'Somebody else has already claimed him,'" Moran said. "She said a cousin. I said, 'He don't have no cousins. We are his immediate family.'"
Moran said she tried to convince the woman on the phone that she was part of Capps' immediate family.
"I just don't know what do now. My fear is that I am going to get down to that morgue ... and he is going to be gone and I am not going to know who's got him," Moran said.
Capps had not been in contact with his family for years. His past includes childhood abuse, teenage mischief and finally, a life of crime, Jackson reported.
"I always was scared to death that a policeman was going to come to the door and say, 'Do you have a brother, Albert Capps? He's dead.' But I never, ever thought we would hear about it this way. They're releasing him to strangers," Moran said. "Even though he was hateful and mean, he is still our brother and her son. No mother can rest knowing her son has not been put to rest properly."