GARY, Ind. (AP) — A judge has denied a Gary funeral home's request to exhume the remains of a stillborn fetus to conduct DNA testing.
Wyatt Puryear sued Smith, Bizzell and Warner Funeral Home after his stillborn son, Marcus, who he thought had been buried in 1996, was found in 2012 at the funeral home. Court records show that after the discovery, the fetus was buried in June 2015.
Attorneys representing the funeral home filed a motion to exhume the body to conduct DNA testing to ensure Wyatt and Marcus Puryear were father and son.
The Post-Tribune reports Lake Superior Court Judge Bruce Parent ruled against the funeral home Wednesday. Parent said the funeral home provided "nothing more than speculation in an attempt to rebut the presumption that Puryear was the father of the child."