Funeral Director Witness Statement.

by Tiffany Hofer
Funeral Director and Owner Luze Funeral Home, Highmore, South Dakota

In 2019, the Gallagher’s reached out with a request to have their infant son reinterred from St. Mary’s Cemetery in Highmore to Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. I’ve been in funeral service for over 25 years, and I’ve seen a lot—but nothing prepared me for what I would witness with baby Gallagher.

In the disinterment, the exact location of the infant casket in the adult grave is not precisely recorded, leaving possibility for damage to the casket from the backhoe, which is what occurred.

In bringing the casket into the funeral home to move baby Gallagher into a new casket, we noted that the original casket was a Wilbert baby Vault/Casket combo, still well-sealed. It was dirty, as expected, and intact aside from where it was broken by the backhoe. These are high quality infant caskets, designed to be airtight and moisture-resistant, built to endure many decades underground. They use the same type of seal found in concrete burial vaults. The casket/vault and seal are consistently good quality.

Regarding the soil conditions at the cemetery, there is nothing particularly notable. The cemetery’s soil conditions are quite typical for our region. There is about 2 feet of black dirt, then it turns to clay. This area doesn’t retain much water. It’s elevated, so rain soaks in but the ground does not remain saturated for long. Because of this, flooded vaults or excessive dampness are not usually factors to contend with.

When the casket was opened, Brian was found to be in mint condition, as if he had just died. There was no odor of decomposition whatsoever. His body, gown, blanket, and diaper were all unexpectedly dry. Typically, moisture from body decomposition that is released inside a sealed casket would lead to dampness inside the casket. Finding him perfectly preserved—we washed his body out of respect. We moved him to the embalming table, cleansed his body and applied a little baby lotion—not because he needed it, but simply as a tender gesture. As a mother, I wanted to offer all tenderness and dignity to him and his family. We washed him lightly (not soaking or drenching with water). We used medical grade antiseptic and lightly patted him dry with blue shop paper towels.

His body was still flexible for an embalmed infant—enough that we were easily able to remove his clothes to wash them. Again, not that this was especially needed, but as an act of respect and kindness. The state of his body was impeccable. No cosmetic work whatsoever was necessary to prepare him for a viewing. His skin tone, his color—it was all natural. There was no odor, no oil, no disfiguration, no dryness or wrinkling of his skin. His appearance would be as if he was just embalmed a day or two before.

There was zero skin slip which was crazy. I would have 100% expected to have skin slip due to the time that had lapsed between his death and the disinterment. Embalming doesn’t stop decomposition; it slows it down and cleanses the body to leave time for a viewing. We would also anticipate that with hair still attached to his scalp, it would have fallen out with the lightest of touch. That was also not the case for Baby Gallagher.

I would have expected his fingertips to be dried out due to there being so little fat in the tiny fingers. At times, we even struggle with that happening to adults before their burials, but Brian had none of that. His little fingers were perfect, again as if he had just passed away.

Also remarkable is the lack of drying at his autopsy suture lines. When making those cuts at the time of death, typically they will dry out fast, even before an initial burial occurs. There was only a tiny bit of drying on the head sutures, opposite of what would be anticipated. The torso suture lines were also without any signs of drying. His full body, including torso, legs, and feet were all without any dehydration, disfiguration, or discoloration again not an expected finding. His tiny little toes looked as good as his fingertips. There was no dehydration anywhere on the body. Just perfect baby skin.

I’m confident he was embalmed with the firmness of his body (what is expected from an infant embalming.) He was flexible, but not as if he were unembalmed. Typically, when an individual is embalmed after an autopsy, due to the nature of the disrupted vasculature after an autopsy, the embalmer has to use multiple vessels to embalm the whole body. The right and left carotid to get the head, right and left axillary to get both arms/hands, and right and left femoral for both legs. With all the organs examined and no longer connected due to the autopsy, the internal organs are treated externally in a formaldehyde solution and then placed back in the abdominal cavity. The embalmer knows the formaldehyde was distributed in each injection point when the skin changes to a pink coloring and becomes firmer than an unembalmed body.

There are some factors that could contribute to slower decomposition for this baby. When the casket is sealed, you have restricted access to the inside of the casket from air, moisture, dirt, and insects. So then by it being sealed, the body isn’t disturbed by outside elements that can speed up decomposition. Decomposition of an embalmed body in a sealed casket will (typically) occur at a much slower rate because you have fewer outside components playing a role. In addition, with the casket buried roughly 4 feet deep, you have temperatures that tend to be cooler than air temperature and less variation of temperature, which also help slow down decomposition. But again, these factors would be common to all of the embalmed bodies sealed in a casket/vault and buried in our local cemetery. These factors do slow decomposition but are not expected to halt it entirely.

For comparison’s sake, I did another baby disinterment in 2023. The disinterment was done 43 years after the baby’s death. This casket was also in mint condition. It was sealed and not broken. This family chose for us to open it up to see the baby. Upon breaking the seal of the casket to open it, there was a horrible odor of decomposition. The baby had skin slip, lots of leaking fluids and was green in color. This greenish discoloration, that occurs primarily in the abdominal region, is a common sign of putrefaction that happens from bacteria in the gut. Even though this baby had been embalmed, you can’t ever get rid of 100% of the bacteria from organs. This bacterial growth continues after death and ignites the decomposition process.

Professionally, I know what I expect to see, especially with an infant. Their little fingers often dehydrate quickly because of the low fat content, but Brian’s fingers were perfect. The autopsy incisions, especially on the torso, were clean and intact. I’ve seen these dry out and discolor even before burial. His were pristine. Only the tiniest bit of change could be seen on the head sutures, and even that was minimal. His legs, feet, and toes were flawless too—no signs of dehydration anywhere.

It’s rare that we need to open a burial vault during a disinterment, but I have participated in the opening of a few, including some involving infant caskets. In all my years of experience, Brian’s case stands out as the only instance where I witnessed a body—especially that of a baby—in a perfectly preserved state after exhumation. I can say with confidence that Brian’s body was in what I would describe as “mint condition” when the casket was opened, 37 years after his death. Based on everything I know about embalming, autopsy, and normal decomposition, Brian’s remains should have shown clear and significant signs of decay. While there are always environmental or procedural variables that can affect the rate of decomposition, the level of preservation in this case goes far beyond what any of those factors could typically explain. In my professional opinion, this warrants further scientific investigation to determine whether there are any hidden natural causes—or if this preservation defies known expectations.

It is a case I will never forget. In my 25-year career in funeral service, I’ve never seen something like this before. I was just in awe of the condition of Brian and then to have the ability to allow the parents to see him again was remarkable. I was also touched by the fact that Brian’s two siblings, who had never met him, were able to see Brian for the first time. It was a beautiful experience.