By the Numbers
On Aug. 5, 2026, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) suspended the funeral director and embalmer license of Johanna Morgan, citing "multiple decedents to be kept in an unrefrigerated area with deplorable conditions including rodent infestation, causing decomposition and maggot infestation of the bodies." The next day, authorities walked through South Chicago Chapel at 2939 E. 95th St. on Chicago's Far South Side, after a complaint alleged remains were not being stored at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit as state rules require. They found 56 decomposing bodies. More than 50 containers of cremated remains were recovered from the same building, and Chicago police are working to locate their next of kin.
State business records list her husband, Clark X. Morgan, as the funeral home's president. IDFPR revoked his funeral director and embalmer intern license and fined him $10,000 in 2024 for practicing on an expired license. The couple also ran Heights Crematory in Chicago Heights, shut down by the state comptroller in 2025 after about 100 bodies were found in inoperable refrigerated trailers. Its license was permanently revoked by consent order in June 2025. The Morgans face more than 20 lawsuits over that case. Obitley covered Heights and the national crematory inspection gap it exposed in July: "100 BODIES IN TRAILERS" (/stories/crematory-inspection-gap-illinois-heights).
What Illinois regulates
IDFPR licenses funeral directors and embalmers, and the comptroller's office regulates crematories. No agency oversees funeral homes at their physical locations, officials told WBEZ and the Sun-Times. IDFPR Secretary Mario Treto Jr. said in a statement that his agency "licenses and regulates funeral directors, but it does not regulate funeral homes or crematoriums." Because those powers sit with two agencies, Clark Morgan could keep serving as president of South Chicago Chapel, with his wife as the registered funeral director, even after the state accused him of mishandling remains at Heights, CBS News Chicago reported.
Illinois tightened one lever in 2024: IDFPR must now inspect a funeral home within 10 days of a complaint about mishandled or misidentified remains. That complaint-driven mechanism is what reached South Chicago Chapel. IDFPR says it received "information about potential operational concerns" on July 31, opened a complaint, inspected, and suspended Johanna Morgan's license on Aug. 5. Treto said the agency "acted swiftly and decisively within our jurisdiction." The bodies were found the following day.
Obitley's own records requests met the same wall. On July 17, Obitley asked IDFPR how many funeral home inspectors it employs and how often it inspects the state's funeral homes. The request has drawn no response at all, no acknowledgment in the month since. A same-day request to the Illinois Department of Insurance asked for enforcement actions against funeral homes and directors over pre-need sales. The July 31 reply said the department "has not located any records responsive to any part" of the request, and suggested "you may have more success contacting" IDFPR. One agency says no records exist. The agency it points to has answered nothing.
Missed warnings
A Chicago Tribune investigation published Aug. 15 found that state licensing regulators visited South Chicago Chapel at least twice after the problems at Heights, and that nothing in state paperwork shows those visits produced regular inspections of the Morgans' businesses. Illinois funeral home investigations typically begin only after a complaint, the paper wrote, citing state guidance.
Governor JB Pritzker defended the state's response, saying the comptroller "did what they should do" and the licensing board "did what it is supposed to do." The comptroller's office says it warned IDFPR during the 2025 Heights case and "urged IDFPR to take away Johanna Morgan's funeral license" over conditions at the crematory, where IDFPR staff had been on site. Johanna Morgan's license stayed in force until Aug. 5, 2026.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza's reaction to the August discovery was "Horrified. Again." She has called for prosecutors to act. "They should have criminal charges pressed against them for how they mishandle these bodies," she told ABC7. "These people should be in jail. That's where they should be."
The law that stops at the crematory door
Illinois answered Heights with House Bill 4695, signed June 26, 2026 after passing both chambers without a single no vote. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. The law lets the comptroller conduct unannounced inspections of crematories, suspend a license on evidence of imminent danger to the public, and impose civil penalties. South Chicago Chapel is a funeral home, so the state's newest deathcare enforcement tool does not apply to it. Mendoza has suggested regulating funeral homes and crematories under one agency. State Representative Diane Blair-Sherlock told WBEZ that "neither of them are really set up with huge enforcement arms."
Three requests, zero records
Obitley sent a third request directly to IDFPR on Aug. 6, the day the bodies were found, asking for preneed trust records: how many sellers the agency licenses, the total value of the trusts, complaint counts, and enforcement actions since 2020. The department invoked the one extension Illinois law allows and promised an update by Aug. 21. Nothing arrived. The request is now deemed denied under the state's Freedom of Information Act. The next step is a request for review with the Public Access Counselor in the attorney general's office.
The silence predates the crisis. Obitley asked IDFPR on July 17 how often it inspects funeral homes. Six weeks later, the question has not been answered by the agency that regulates the people who run them.
The families
Dyanna Burt-Finnie of Texas filed a proposed class action in Cook County Circuit Court on Aug. 11. Her father, Terrance Fallie, died Aug. 4, and the chapel took possession of his body that day. When her representatives arrived Aug. 6 to move him to another funeral home, authorities were removing the bodies. The six-count suit alleges fraud and failures to affix identifying information to remains. It counts 57 bodies; the official count is 56. The first hearing is Oct. 13.
Families who used the chapel are questioning urns they already took home. Marshawna Campbell, whose mother died in April, told ABC7 the contents "looked like gravel, like they grinded up some rocks and put it in a bag." Patrice Halliburton, whose sister Melody Johnson died May 23, told the Chicago Crusader: "We don't know if Melody is in there or not."
The Cook County medical examiner had identified at least 33 of the 56 bodies as of Aug. 14, and 47 as of Aug. 24, with nine cases unsolved. The office is offering cremation at no cost to affected families, and Chicago police are asking families to call 312-666-0200. No criminal charges have been filed. Chicago police and the Illinois State Police both have open investigations, and the Cook County state's attorney has recommended that state police consider the possibility of financial crimes in the Heights case.
What This Means for You
*Developing: identification of the remaining nine bodies, the Oct. 13 hearing, and the criminal investigations are ongoing. Obitley's deemed-denied IDFPR request can now go to the Public Access Counselor; the inspection-data request remains unanswered. We will update as details emerge.*
*Sources: Capitol News Illinois/Associated Press, Aug. 7, 2026; Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 11, 2026; WBEZ Chicago/Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 11, 2026; CBS News Chicago, August 2026; ABC7 Chicago, Aug. 8 and Aug. 14, 2026; Chicago Tribune, Aug. 15, 2026, accessed via The Illinoize republication; Chicago Tribune reporting via Union-Bulletin syndication, August 2026; Chicago Crusader, Aug. 16, 2026; FOX 32 Chicago, August 2026; The Center Square, August 2026; Illinois Office of the Comptroller press release on the Heights Crematory consent order, June 2025; Illinois General Assembly bill record for HB 4695, Public Act 104-0501, and Sen. Patrick Joyce press release, June 29, 2026; Illinois Department of Insurance FOIA response #26-FO-0709, July 31, 2026; IDFPR FOIA extension letter under 5 ILCS 140/3(e)(v), Aug. 14, 2026; Obitley public records request records.*
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