Mortician Lost His License — Police Say He Used Storage Unit for Bodies Until They Made Gruesome Discovery

Mississippi police allege that the former owner of a funeral home began using a local storage unit to continue hosting funerals and burials after he lost his business license.

Police in Greenville, Miss., say they’ve arrested Albert Creath and charged him with improper desecration of corpses, according to reports from local outlets WLBT, The Delta News, and WAPT.

Creath, the 31-year-old former owner of Creath Memorial Services in Greenville, Miss., could face additional charges as the investigation unfolds, Washington County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Billy Barber told The Delta News.

Barber called Creath’s alleged desecration of the bodies an “isolated incident.”

“This is an isolated incident from somebody just not doing what they were initially assigned to do with these corpses,” the deputy told The Delta News.

Creath, who ran Creath Memorial Services, previously used TikTok to advertise his business, calling his funeral home “the hallmark of professional services.”

In several posts reviewed by PEOPLE, the TikTok page shares images of dead bodies inside their respective caskets with emojis pasted over the faces. Several posts were marked “sensitive” by the social media app, including one that shows the face of a dead body and their name displayed on a poster board next to the casket. Another post appears to show the inside of a storage unit, which Creath describes as his “casket warehouse” and his “second home.”

Deputy Barber told The Delta News that police believe the bodies were discovered inside the storage unit during an attempted burglary.

“Deputies had actually been to that particular storage because they had reported some burglaries, so there’s a chance the burglars could’ve actually ran upon it,” Barber told the outlet. “But we don’t know.”

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Local authorities confirmed in a social media post that they found the bodies inside the storage unit on the night of Wednesday, March 26, and Greenville Mayor Errick D. Simmons later made a statement calling the discovery “deeply disturbing.”

“The discovery of human remains in a storage unit in our city is deeply disturbing and raises serious concerns that demand a thorough investigation,” Simmons said in a statement Wednesday. “My thoughts and prayers are with the families who may be affected by this tragic situation.”

Simmons said Greenville is “a community that values dignity, respect, and the rule of law,” and that “We will not tolerate any actions that violate those principles.”