HIGHLANDS, Texas – A Highlands funeral home is working to clear its name after disturbing images and videos taken inside its facility began circulating on social media over the weekend.
Alexander’s Mortuary confirms the content is real but says it doesn’t reflect who they are.
The pictures show a now-former employee posing near caskets, including one photo where he’s seen holding a gun. The funeral home says the employee admitted to taking the pictures in hopes of going viral online.
“The young man made a mistake trying to go viral. Trying to monetize and get money off of social media” said Derek Anderson, an employee at Alexander’s Mortuary. “We’re going to give him a little grace, but he has to suffer the consequences, termination.”
The employee has not been charged with a crime, but was fired immediately following an emergency staff meeting, during which he admitted to taking the photos for social media clout. Anderson said staff phones were collected and searched during the internal investigation.
“He’s 21 years old, infatuated with social media,” Anderson added. “Plain and simple, he broke the rules and violated his non-disclosure agreement.”
In addition to the photos, a separate video is also making the rounds online. The funeral home says the video was recorded months ago and that the person who filmed it was not an employee but rather someone invited by the deceased’s family to cut the person’s hair before the service.
“We allowed her to do what the family asked, cut the gentleman’s hair, get him ready. At that point, we allowed her to be in there alone. She uncovered the box and began to take these videos,” Anderson said. “We trusted her to go into there and do the job that the family asked her to do.”
KPRC 2 obtained the video. We are not sharing it due to the graphic nature and respect for the families. The video shows a man dressed, ahead of a funeral, the camera than pans to show a nude woman.
“The lady that you see in the box that’s uncovered, that lady was covered up. She uncovered her, took her out of the box,” Anderson explained. “She was being ready to go to cremation. The bottom box that you see is our cremations box. She was totally covered.”
Anderson says the family later contacted the mortuary to express concern and to identify the woman who recorded the video.
Owner Melvin Alexander, who has run the business for more than 40 years, said he plans to file a police report against her.
“She violated our trust,” said Alexander. “We know her. She’s been here before to do work. I am deeply hurt and sad. I’ve never had any type of blemish like this at this funeral home.”
As of publishing, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said they have not received any calls for service to the mortuary address.
The Texas Funeral Service Commission declined to comment on whether there is an active investigation into the incident.
