Woman Sues Funeral Home for Burying Her Husband at ‘Other Wife’s’ Request

Imagine your man’s side chick causing chaos even after his death? That was the case when one woman requested that her deceased husband be cremated while his other “wife” had him secretly buried.

The bizarre mix-up took place in January in Baltimore, Maryland. Demetra Street says that her husband, Ivan Street, died on January 9th. Afterward, she went to Wylie Funeral Homes on January 13th. There, she provided her certified marriage license to prove that she was his wife and next of kin, despite them being separated at the time of his death. Demetra entered into a $2,500 contract for the funeral home to cremate Ivan’s remain and hold a memorial service. What should have been simple homegoing arrangements took a turn for the worse when another woman came forward shortly after, also claiming to be married to Ivan. She provided a marriage certificate to the funeral from October 1997, though it lacked a seal. That woman insisted that Ivan be buried instead.

Funeral home staff informed Demetra that a separate woman claimed to be his wife and demanded a burial. However, she told them to ignore the lady and maintained that the mystery wife had no authority over Ivan’s body. For reasons unknown, the funeral home listened to the other woman and buried Ivan. After the burial, they still proceeded with the memorial service that Demetra paid for. Programs were printed for the service attendees, which listed Demetra as the wife and made no mention of the other woman.

After the service, Demetra says the funeral home supplied an empty urn. It was not until a few days later that an employee emailed her to confess that Ivan had been buried before the memorial service and that his ashes were not in the urn.

Demetra and Ivan Street were legally married in 2016 and were getting a divorce in 2018. However, it appears that they never completed the process before his untimely passing.

Ivan’s other woman wrote a touching message on his remembrance page, where she called him her “best friend” and says she would lean on their “loving memories” to get her through his death.

Demetra is now suing Wylie Funeral Homes for unspecified damages, claiming that the funeral home profited off of both women during their time of grief.