LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — At least two more families are filing lawsuits against a shuttered Las Vegas funeral home.
Back in August, we told you how the Nevada State Funeral Board shut down McDermott's Funeral Home after disturbing discoveries were made, including coolers with multiple bodies leaking fluids that dripped onto other bodies on the floor.
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In September, the family of Dora Gonzalez filed a lawsuit stating McDermott's was supposed to handle her cremation after she passed away on July 17, 2025. Instead, the family says they were contacted by the Clark County Coroner's Office on Aug. 12, 2025, and they told her not only had she not been cremated, her body had been moved from McDermott's "due to unsanitary conditions". She was finally cremated on Sept. 1, 2025.
We've now learned that two additional families have come forward with their own lawsuits against McDermott's.
The parents of Autumn Serna state she was just over a year old when she passed away on June 29, 2024. Her body was taken to McDermott's and her family agreed to cremation services. However, attorneys for the family state McDermott required the family to apply to Clark County Social Services to pay for services.
Because of that, the family states they contacted McDermott's several times to ask about the status of Autumn's cremation and also offered to pay the remainder themselves, instead of social services, which they allege McDermott's refused.
On Oct. 10, 2024, the lawsuit states McDermott's finally allowed the family to pay in cash but at the same time, "Chris Grant, owner of McDermott's, contacted [the family] and gave her two choices: (1) he would report Autumn's body to Clark County Social Services as "Abandoned," in which case Clark County would take possession of Autumn's remains or (2) pay the balance in cash."
The family paid the remainder of the balance but the lawsuit claims McDermott's told the family Autumn's remains weren't processed until Nov. 4, 2024.
According to the lawsuit, the Serna family questioned if the remains they received were Autumn's because when a body is cremated, an identifying metal tag is included with the remains, which is how a crematorium can identify a person's remains after the body has been incinerated. However, the family states they never received Autumn's tag.
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In addition to those questions, the family alleges Autumn was kept in one of the coolers that inspectors noted bodies were being improperly stored and they believe her body was contaminated with fluids from other decedents.
A third lawsuit was filed by the family of Mixon Fischele, who passed away after battling cancer on July 31, 2025. Her family says one of her requests was to have an open casket funeral and then be cremated. She had picked out special jewelry and the outfit she wanted to wear when her loved ones said their final goodbyes.
On Aug. 15, 2025, the State of Nevada revoked the permits and licenses held by McDermott's, so bodies were transferred to Davis Funeral Home. The lawsuit states bodies were transferred "in unsanitary and unsafe conditions" and Davis employees "left bodies, including Decedent's body, in the street for an extended period of time in temperatures in excess of 110 degrees."
Attorneys for the family state that after transport, Fischele's body had decomposed to the point where an open casket funeral was not possible. A closed casket funeral was held on Aug. 23, 2025 and "to this day, it is unknown if the body that was in the casket was actually Plaintiff's mother."
A total of 146 bodies were recovered from McDermott's and transferred to Davis Funeral Home under the supervision of the Clark County Coroner's Office. Clark County also terminated their contract with McDermott's, which had been one of several mortuaries contracted to provide burial and cremation services for individuals in Southern Nevada without family or the financial means to handle end-of-life arrangements.
When looking at the court docket, Fischele's family will be in court on March 18. No future dates have been set for the Serna family's case, as of Monday afternoon. Dora Gonzalez's case is going to trial next year and a status check has been scheduled for Feb. 16, 2027.