* CBS 2…

Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who regulates crematories, shut that business down last year, revoking its license.

“It is really disgusting and upsetting to find out that they’re still at it, and I had said back then, these folks will figure out a way to circumvent the system,” she said. “I don’t know how there’s not like a microscope on this entity. You know, the Morgans literally run a house of horrors in their businesses.”

But when it comes to the Morgans’ funeral home, Mendoza said her hands are tied, because funeral homes are regulated by a different state agency.

“We don’t have the authority to, you know, look at what’s going on in their funeral home. That’s not something that we regulate or investigate. That is fully under the purview of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations, and we have made it clear to them that these are terrible actors,” Mendoza said on Friday.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said, while they have the power to revoke funeral directors’ licenses, they do not have jurisdiction over funeral homes.

Mendoza said regulation of funeral homes and crematories should be handled by a single state agency.

* NBC 5…

In a news release sent Friday, the IDFPR said it took “swift action” after learning of the situation at the South Side funeral home, and was working with investigators “to ensure all appropriate regularly and public-safety steps are taken.”

The IDFPR handles the physical operations and professional credentials of funeral homes, Mendoza’s office said. The department also licenses and disciplines funeral directors and embalmers, and investigates operational issues like professional incompetence, vital records noncompliance, or the improper handling of human remains.

In 2024, Morgan’s husband Clark, who previously held a funeral director and embalmer intern license, had his credentials suspended.

In 2025, the Illinois Office of the Comptroller shut down the Morgan’s other business, Heights Crematory in Chicago Heights, after investigators discovered “several improperly stored bodies and hundreds of cremated remains that had never been returned to their families.”

* AP…

Capitol News Illinois reported in 2023 that state regulators allowed a Carlinville funeral director to operate for months despite a complaint filed by a local coroner who found a decomposing body in his funeral home and alleged the care of the remains was “unacceptable and criminal in nature.”

While trying to assist a local family with retrieving cremated remains in March, Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson found the unrefrigerated corpse in the embalming room of Heinz Funeral Home. She contacted IDFPR, the state agency that oversees funeral directors, and filed a complaint.

IDFPR took no immediate action against the funeral home director Albert August “Gus” Heinz, allowing him to continue to handle arrangements for grieving and unsuspecting families. It wasn’t until Oct. 5 — days after another local coroner went public with what he found at the funeral home — that Heinz agreed to allow [IDFPR] to revoke his funeral director license. The coroner later filed an affidavit saying Heinz might have misidentified up to 800 human remains.

…Adding… IDFPR…

Our hearts are with the families whose loved ones were affected by the disturbing circumstances uncovered at the South Chicago Chapel funeral home. Every family deserves the assurance that their loved one will be treated with dignity, care, and respect. Any breach of that trust is deeply troubling.

Late Friday, July 31, IDFPR received information about potential operational concerns at the funeral home, prompting IDFPR to open a complaint and conduct an on-site inspection shortly after. As soon as investigators identified evidence of misconduct, IDFPR initiated expedited disciplinary proceedings, suspended Johanna Morgan’s funeral director license earlier this week, and notified law enforcement. On a separate matter in 2024, IDFPR revoked the license of the funeral director’s husband for misconduct.

While IDFPR issues licenses and regulates funeral directors, and does not regulate funeral homes or crematoriums, the Department communicates regularly and promptly with the Illinois Office of the Comptroller, state and local law enforcement, and other local partners to address any form of known misconduct. As evident in this case, once evidence of misconduct by a licensed professional was identified, IDFPR acted swiftly and decisively within our jurisdiction to suspend the funeral director’s license.

We will continue to support law enforcement and local authorities as the investigation proceeds, pursue every regulatory action available under Illinois law, and take any additional action necessary to safeguard the public and uphold the integrity of the profession.

This oversight needs to be consolidated.