'Totally disturbing' discovery made at former mortician's home in Detroit

Detroit police made some unsettling discoveries this week at the former home of a mortician on the city's west side.

In an alley outside of the home on Rosemont Avenue was a dirty, aging casket with the name of a woman, Dorothy Feagin, who had died nearly 20 years ago. When police opened the coffin Thursday, they found what appeared to be a dog's skull, not the remains of Feagin.

"Where is her body?" one of Feagin's daughters, Crystal Johnson, asked on a report aired by WDIV–Local 4.

A day earlier, police were called to the house after a renovation crew found several coffins inside the home, one of which contained what authorities believe are the remains of an animal.

The mortician who had lived at the home died in 2017.

On Friday, police told Metro Times they are trying to determine why animal remains were in the coffins and what happened to Feagin's body. The remains were sent to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office for further examination.

It's possible, the family said, that Feagin was buried in a separate coffin. When their mother died, the daughters bought a second coffin because the first one was too small.

"To see anything with her name on it in an alley in this kind of way is totally disturbing," daughter Lori Battle said.

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