Licensing questions raised after funeral home findings
[August 11, 2026]
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker says state officials are
working with local law enforcement after 56 decomposing bodies were
found at a Chicago funeral home.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said it took jurisdiction of
the remains after the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation suspended the license of South Chicago Chapel’s owner.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he is listening to IDFPR about the funeral
home’s processes.
“We need to know whether this had something to do with monitoring, had
to do with licensing, or it just had to do with really bad actors who
were hiding what they were doing,” Pritzker said at a bill-signing event
in Chicago on Friday.
Illinois DFPR Secretary Mario Treto Jr. said his agency licenses and
regulates funeral directors, but it does not regulate funeral homes or
crematoriums.
“As evident in this case, once evidence of misconduct by a licensed
professional was identified, IDFPR acted swiftly and decisively within
our jurisdiction to suspend the funeral director’s license,” Treto said
in a statement released on Friday evening.
Treto said the agency suspended South Chicago Chapel owner Johanna
Morgan’s funeral director license last week.
Johanna and Clark Morgan also operated a Chicago Heights crematory that
was shut down by the Illinois comptroller’s office last year, after
bodies were found to be improperly stored and hundreds of cremated
remains had not been returned to their families.
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The Illinois State Capitol is shown in Springfield. Photo: Greg
Bishop / The Center Square
Heights Crematory was the target of legislation introduced this year
by state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights.
“You may recall last summer a real tragedy at a crematory that was
located in Chicago Heights, and it prompted this legislation,”
DeLuca said.
Pritzker signed House Bill 4695 on June 26 after both chambers of
the state legislature passed it unanimously during the spring.
“One of the most significant aspects of this is that, under current
language, you can cremate the human remains at convenience, and this
would require within 30 days,” DeLuca said.
The legislation takes effect Jan. 1.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in a statement it was “infuriating”
to hear that the Chicago Heights operators “did the same thing” in
Chicago.
A statement from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s
office said the medical examiner’s office is working to reunite
family members and loved ones of decedents whose remains were stored
at South Chicago Chapel.
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