For the Croucher sisters, grieving their brother came with complicated feelings.
On his wishes, Terry was cremated and to be buried with his parents.
The sisters planned a small service at the cemetery on Cherry Crescent in Springdale, N.L. It was a small ceremony with about 10 people in attendance; the Crouchers describe it as a “lovely sendoff.”
But in the days that followed the internment, their feelings of pride and closure for a life lived, turned to anger and devastation.
That’s because the sisters found out they were burying the ashes of a complete stranger.
Terry died on Oct. 22, 2025, at the home of his sister Tina in St. John’s, after a battle with leukemia. He was 67.
“He would do anything for anybody,” said Tina.
Terry spent most of his life in his central Newfoundland hometown of Springdale, but had to move to St. John’s for health reasons in 2012. He lived with Tina.
When he died, Tina called Carnell’s Funeral Home to take care of the arrangements, which included cremation and the purchase of an urn for Terry’s remains.
The family made arrangements to pick up Terry’s ashes and the urn four days after his death.
“The family came down from Nova Scotia and we all drove out to Springdale … We had a little gathering at our aunt’s house and everybody had our one-on-one time with his urn, with his ashes, with his remains,” Tina said.
Two weeks later, the day after what would have been her only brother’s 68th birthday, Tina got a call from Carnell’s saying Terry’s remains were ready for pickup.
“I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ We had the urn … We buried him.’”
Terry Croucher died in October 2025. He grew up and spent most of his life in Springdale, where he is buried. (Contributed by the Croucher family)
Two days later, there was another phone call from Carnell’s.
“He said, ‘Just calling to let you know we gave you the wrong remains.’ And I went in shock, like you would, I mean, and I said, ‘What do you mean, the wrong remains?’ And he said, ‘We gave you someone else.’”
Tina recalls being shocked by the news. Then, she says the man explained to her that a permit would be needed to dig up the remains of the stranger and bury her brother.
Tina says she told Carnell’s it was possible she would not be able to get to Springdale for the second burial, but another family member would.
As Tina and the family tried to best deal with the mixed emotions that came with realizing they held a service for a stranger, they talked about next steps.
However, the following day, things got worse.
“I get a phone call from the owner of Carnell’s … he started off with ‘Just wanted to let you know everything is done and taken care of.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, ‘We went out this morning and exhumed the other remains and buried your brother.’”
Tina and her sisters had been making plans to again meet in Springdale for a ceremony to bury Terry. Even if that couldn’t happen in time, she said she was insistent family be there.
“They took that from us. We will never get that back.”
This photo shows dead flowers at the gravesite of Terry Croucher. (Submitted by the Croucher family)
Peggy Croucher, one of Terry’s three sisters, said Carnell’s stripped them of an opportunity to say goodbye to their brother on their terms.
“They took it from us twice,” she said. “Not just once, but twice, the opportunity of us laying our brother to rest.”
Peggy said she was furious and hurt, and the anger hasn’t subsided.
“We all laid fresh flowers with my brother. They took the dead flowers that was left there on the ground and laid it back on his grave, instead of taking that and put it in the garbage and putting fresh ones there. At least he could have done that.”
Carnell’s declined interview requests.
In a statement provided to CBC News, company president Greg Carnell said the error resulted from a failure to follow their identification and verification procedures.
The statement noted that once the error was discovered, Carnell’s reviewed and strengthened those procedures, and took appropriate action internally.
“We deeply regret what occurred and remain committed to providing families with the highest standards of compassion, professionalism and care,” the statement read.
“We sincerely apologize to the Croucher family and accept responsibility for what occurred.”
Terry Croucher’s ashes rest below this plaque on his family’s plot at a Springdale graveyard. (Troy Turner/CBC)
In February 2026, the Crouchers took their complaints to the Embalmers and Funeral Directors Board of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The board operates under the jurisdiction of the provincial Department of Government Services, and handles complaints related to the industry.
In May, the complaints authorization committee of the board responded to the Crouchers’ complaint.
The board wrote Tina Croucher, saying it determined that an error occurred in the release of cremated remains, which resulted in the incorrect remains being provided to the family.
“The committee further found that this error was due to a failure to follow proper identification and verification procedures,” the letter read.
“This constitutes a breach of the Code of Ethics and Rules of Professional Conduct governing funeral directors and embalmers in this province …
“While it is acknowledged that steps were taken to correct the situation, the committee recognizes that the communication with your family during that process was not handled as clearly or as sensitively as it should have been, and that this contributed to your experience.”
Sisters say they feel ‘violated’ after burying a stranger’s remains
The letter noted that Carnell’s issued a full refund to the Crouchers, and determined that a formal written reprimand of the funeral home was appropriate.
“The funeral home has also been directed to review and strengthen its policies and procedures … to help prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future.”
The Crouchers requested details of that reprimand, but say they’ve received nothing back.
No one from the board would do an interview.
CBC News also requested more details from the regulator related to the Crouchers’ complaint.
“Please be advised the Embalmers and Funeral Directors Board of Newfoundland and Labrador do not publish publicly any documentation, communication or decisions regarding any allegations or complaints forwarded to the Complaints Authorization Committee,” wrote Nova-Lee Hill, chair of the board.
According to the province’s Embalmers and Funeral Directors Act, the board’s registrar “shall publish a summary of a decision or order of an adjudication tribunal” in a number of circumstances.
Those include when there are conditions specified for the continuing practice of the respondent.
Government Services, the department overseeing the act, would not do an interview.
In a prepared statement, the department acknowledged the act includes requirements regarding the publication of adjudication tribunal decisions.
But it noted that the “Embalmers and Funeral Directors Board of Newfoundland and Labrador is responsible for determining how those requirements are met.”
The whole situation has left the Croucher family feeling violated.
“There was no respect to our family and especially no respect to our brother at all,” Peggy said.
Tina says it took a long time for the family to make a decision to speak out.
What encouraged their decision to go public, she says, is the hope that other families won’t have to go through the same thing.
“Our brother was a wonderful person and he deserved to have gotten what the stranger [we buried] got,” she said.
“If this can help even one family … to not happen to another family, it’s worth it.”
