Investigators find more than 50 decomposing bodies at Chicago funeral home

Investigators were at South Chicago Chapel on Chicago’s Far South Side after state regulators suspended the funeral director’s license and found more than 50 decomposing bodies inside the building. The funeral home sits at 2939 E. 95th St. on the Southeast Side, where authorities moved in after reports of deeply unsanitary conditions.

State regulators found the remains in deplorable conditions that included rodent and maggot infestations, and a hazardous materials response was sent to the scene. Multiple reports said bodies were found in closets and an attached garage, with some accounts also placing remains in a basement. The Chicago Sun-Times and other outlets put the total at 57 bodies, while other headlines described the discovery as more than 50.

Cook County officials said dozens of decomposing bodies were discovered at the East 95th Street funeral home. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said it could take days to identify the remains, a process that will determine how many families must confront the possibility that loved ones were left in the facility for an unknown period. South Chicago Chapel describes itself as formally Brown Funeral Home.

The enforcement action places the focus on how a licensed funeral home could deteriorate without earlier intervention. Mario Treto Jr. and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation are tied to the suspension, which took effect after regulators found the conditions inside the facility. The case adds to pressure on county and state oversight systems that are supposed to protect families handing over remains for burial, cremation or other final arrangements.

The discovery also echoes another major Illinois case from March 2025, when Heights Crematory in Chicago Heights was shut down after more than 100 bodies were found improperly stored in trailers. Together, the two cases have exposed how failures in funeral and crematory oversight can leave families facing delays, uncertainty and the painful task of learning what happened after trust was already given.