Friend of N.C. woman left in hearse wants remains

RALEIGH, N.C. 

A friend of the woman whose decomposing body was left in a hearse for nine days says she'd like to claim the woman's cremated remains and celebrate her life.

"I would like nothing more than to be able to give her a nice service," Teresa Painter of Carrboro told The News & Observer of Raleigh on Wednesday.

Painter was speaking about Linda Walton, 37, of Carrboro, whose body was discovered Aug. 20 in a hearse behind the David B. Lawson Mortuary in Graham.

Walton's body was cremated after it was taken from the hearse, police said. Carrboro police had found her body in her apartment Aug. 11, after she had been dead about a week.

An investigation concluded she had a history of health problems and had died of natural causes. Her friends are struggling with feelings of guilt, remorse and helplessness.

Painter was a former activity director at an assisted living center in Carrboro and got to know Walton there.

She encouraged Walton to stay at the assisted living center because she thought it would be better for Walton, who needed treatment for kidney disease. But Walton wanted more independence.

"She was headstrong," Painter said. "If she was determined to do something, she did it. She was a survivor, and I think sometimes that survival instinct took place of her better judgment."

When Walton left the center, Painter gave her phone number to her friend. "Promise me two things," Painter said she told Walton. "Never go hungry and never go cold."

Carrboro police had found a brother in Texas, but he wanted nothing to do with his sister, the newspaper said. Walton's mother died in Whistler, Ala., according to investigators, and no other relatives could be found.

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service voted Wednesday to hold a hearing to determine if the Lawson mortuary violated the law or the agency's rules. Board director Paul Harris said the hearing likely will be held in a couple of months.

If the board decides to discipline Lawson, punishments range from a warning to the loss of his license.

The Herald-Sun of Durham reported that Lawson told the agency he didn't have anywhere to store the body while he waited for permission from the Orange County Department of Social Services to cremate it.

As part of the board's investigation, Harris contacted Orange County to try to find out what happened with Lawson's call. He said he didn't get the information he requested so the county attorney is now handling the request for information.

Nevertheless, the problem was not whether the procedure worked properly but that Lawson stored the body in the hearse for more than a couple of hours, Harris said.