Funeral Home Owner Chris Johnson Spending Halloween in Jail

Funeral home owner Chris Johnson.
Credit: Coffee County Sheriff’s Office

Halloween is the time for scary tales about the supernatural and the macabre, but this season brings a true chilling story of grizzly neglect by funeral home owner Chris Johnson that has left families of the departed in a state of shock and anger.

If you believe in ghosts, there may be agitated souls lurking on the grounds at Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services in Douglas, Georgia, where Coffee County sheriff’s deputies discovered 18 decaying corpses while serving an eviction notice, according to multiple news reports.

Johnson, 39, was arrested and charged with 17 counts of abuse of a dead body, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced in a statement October 27, following an investigation prompted by Coffee County officials.

According to arrest warrants, Johnson disregarded the proper storage of bodies, which resulted in “the serious disfigurement” of the deceased people at his facility.

Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services after arrival of investigators.
Credit: WALB-TV

Douglas is a city of nearly 12,000 residents about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta. The local newspaper, Douglas Now, reported that Johnson, who unsuccessfully ran for county coroner earlier this year, was in the process of relocating his business to a new building downtown when the bodies were discovered.

Officers found a dead dog and a dead cat among the remains that had been decomposing for months, according to Douglas Now. One of the human bodies was a child’s. Local authorities were working to identify the deceased and notify families, Douglas Now reported.

“It’s obviously a terrible case,” Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, told Atlanta News First. “His license lapsed for a period of time this year and then he reinstated his funeral director’s license and his embalmer’s license. The facility license was still not renewed.”

According to Douglas Now, word had been circulating in the community for some time that there were serious operational issues at Johnson’s facility. Postings on the website show that the last funeral and burial was October 10, 2024.

Relatives of the deceased expressed frustration with the lack of communication from the funeral home prior to Johnson’s arrest. Sherri Thomas told WALB-TV. “I have called probably over 50-60 times, and he has not once returned my phone call. And I just wonder with all these bodies, is that even my mama’s body in this urn.”

“The whole thing is disgusting,” Angela Howell, a Coffee County resident, told Atlanta News First.

Johnson is being held in Coffee County jail. Additional charges are expected.