06/01/2026
A family mourning the loss of their father was shocked when they went to attend his wake and instead found a stranger lying inside his coffin.
Jose Daniel Diaz Felipe, known as Danielito to his friends and family, passed away at the age of 84. His children prepared to say a final goodbye to him Thursday at a wake in Washington Heights.
When they showed up at R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home, they were stunned by who they found lying in his casket.
"We open the coffin and find another man. And they were trying for hours to convince us he was our father," Jose Luis Diaz, the man's son, said Friday.
Diaz said his father was bald, like him. He said the man lying in the coffin had hair and was much taller his dad, who was five-foot-three. The family immediately tried to get answers from the funeral home about the whereabouts of their dad.
"They say that they found in the same week, they got another person with a similar name," Diaz told News 4. "We don't know where our father is right now."
This incident is not the first time a family member has accused R.G. Ortiz Funeral Homes of issues. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection sued R.G. Ortiz Funeral Homes after receiving nearly 50 complaints about the condition of the remains of loved ones and misrepresenting or concealing the prices of services offered.
