An in-debt Georgia funeral home director was arrested when 18 decomposing bodies were found in his facility as cops were evicting him, according to a new report.
Chris Lee Johnson, 39, the owner of the Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services, was being kicked out last week when Coffee County deputies discovered the bodies rotting in the Douglas funeral home, including the corpses of “more than one child.”
In the months leading up to his eviction, new court documents reveal Johnson had $9,000 in unpaid rent that he rushed to pay in May before he was set to get booted, only to fail to pay rent the following two months, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
That first eviction notice was sent out on May 20, just a day before Johnson lost the Republican primary in his bid to become the Coffee County coroner.
In a separate case, a company called Thacker Caskets claimed Johnson was on the hook for $9,588.30 for nine unpaid caskets in 2022.
A judge ruled in Thacker’s favor last year, ordering the troubled funeral home director to pay not only the overdue amount, but also to pay $1,908.25 in accrued interest and attorney fees, according to the Superior Court of Coffee County.
Along with the fees for that case, Johnson was also ordered to pay more than $21,000 for unpaid equipment in a different lawsuit filed against him, the Journal-Constitution reported.
Johnson received his second eviction notice Oct. 24, with police arriving two days later to boot him from the south Georgia funeral home.
Inside, the deputies made the ghoulish discovery, with the bodies found in “various stages of decomposition,” the Coffee County Sheriff’s office said.
“It’s obviously a terrible case,” said Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, noting that Johnson’s license had lapsed for a period in 2024.
Johnson was arrested and charged with 17 counts of abuse of a dead body as authorities accused him of “willful negligence in his duties as a funeral home director and intentional disregard of proper storage.”
Officials alleged that Johnson’s poor leadership led to the bodies being kept for excessive periods, resulting in their disfigurement.
Coffee County and state officials said the case was still under investigation, with the names of the 18 bodies found in the funeral home yet to be publicly revealed.
A representative for Johnson could not be immediately reached for comment.