Missing funeral director leaves families fuming

In the black community I can identify three important businesses. You might have the barber/beauty shops where black men and women might get their hair cut, trimmed, or just shampooed or permed. Then you have the chruch and it should be a proved fact that black folks are faithful church goers. Then there is the funeral home.

My dad passed away ten years ago. My folks didn't anticipate his sudden demise. My mom didn't know what to do when we had to make the necessary arrangements and thankfully relatives helped us with who to go to for funeral arrangements. Then we had to make some other moves after that.

But if this funeral director did what he did with his customers with my dad, I'd be totally and utterly furious...

"I don't know where the f--- he's at," Wallace Funeral Home employee Kimberly Solomon said Saturday when asked the whereabouts of Randy Wallace, identified as director of the business at 5838 W. Division.

Solomon, who said she has worked with Wallace at the funeral home for six years, confirmed that the director's safe at the establishment was found wide open, and the director was nowhere around.

She said she and other employees at the funeral home find it odd that Wallace would disappear and leave the safe open.
"He's a very nice person, so this is odd to us. This is a shock to us," Solomon said.

As of Saturday, no one had filed a missing-person report on Wallace, and police are not investigating -- at least for now.

Officer Tom Polick said authorities were called by several families late Friday over what was termed a "misunderstanding between Wallace and the families of the deceased."

"These bodies were supposed to be prepared, and they weren't," Polick said.

Polick said although some family members alleged they had paid money for services, police had no proof funds had exchanged hands and that no charges could be filed.

He said a manager at the funeral home has worked with families to make alternative arrangements.

This is damned odd and I'd rather think that this wasn't a case of fraud, but there's no evidence of foul play so far. I understand the funeral directors are license so I can't belive that a funeral director could have made with some cash and ran. Even so this case is bizarre and if this had happened with my dad, I'd be upset.