Licensing discipline, police contacts and complaints accumulated before authorities found 56 improperly stored bodies at South Chicago Chapel.
CHICAGO — The discovery of 56 decomposing bodies inside South Chicago Chapel followed years of disciplinary cases, complaints and government contacts involving its operators, raising new questions about how information was shared among agencies responsible for funeral businesses, professional licensing and local safety enforcement.
Records from the years before the August discovery show that Clark and Johanna Morgan came to the attention of multiple authorities for separate reasons. Clark Morgan faced professional discipline, police found two bodies in his minivan in 2024, Heights Crematory was later shut down over the handling of human remains, and Chicago officials received odor complaints about South Chicago Chapel. None of those developments, considered separately by different agencies, prevented the funeral home from continuing to operate until this summer.
One of the clearest early warnings came in June 2024, when Evergreen Park police found two bodies in a minivan outside the Morgans’ home. Clark Morgan told officers he was transporting the bodies from a hospice facility to Heights Crematory. Although Morgan showed officers professional credentials, police later determined his license was invalid.
State regulators had already disciplined Morgan over his funeral-industry credentials. Records show he was accused of transporting bodies while using an expired funeral director and embalmer intern license that had been altered to show a different expiration date. He was fined $10,000, and his professional license was revoked in 2024. No criminal charge resulted from the later Evergreen Park encounter.
The day after police encountered the minivan, investigators also communicated with the Cook County medical examiner’s office. According to the police investigation, the office’s chief investigator said complaints had been filed regarding professional practices at Heights Crematory. Police identified the people in the vehicle and contacted relatives, but the incident did not produce a prosecution.
Problems later surfaced more publicly at Heights Crematory in Chicago Heights, which the Morgans operated. Authorities shut the crematory down in 2025 after finding improperly stored human remains. The case generated civil litigation and additional scrutiny of how the business handled people entrusted to its care.
Even after the crematory problems, South Chicago Chapel continued operating. Johanna Morgan still held a funeral director license until state regulators suspended it in August 2026. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has said earlier visits to the funeral home, including one in October 2025, did not produce evidence sufficient for an immediate suspension. The agency had filed formal disciplinary charges against her in October 2025.
City records have added another layer to the oversight questions. Nearly a year before the August search, an alderperson’s office forwarded complaints from residents about odors near South Chicago Chapel. Records reviewed by news organizations indicate a city inspector visited after one complaint but did not document an interior inspection. The complaint was closed after the odor was attributed to burning garbage outside.
Authorities finally searched the funeral home in early August after new concerns reached regulators. They found 56 bodies in unrefrigerated areas and in various stages of decomposition, according to officials. State regulators suspended Johanna Morgan’s license, while police and the Cook County medical examiner began the work of removing and identifying the remains.
The case illustrates the divided system governing funeral businesses in Illinois. Professional licenses for funeral directors fall under state regulation, crematories are overseen through a different state office, local governments enforce building and health-related rules, and law enforcement agencies handle potential criminal matters. That division has fueled questions about whether warning signs held by one agency were visible or meaningful to another.
Former Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson told WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times that fragmented responsibility can make it difficult for government agencies to determine who should coordinate a broader response. Illinois lawmakers are now reconsidering elements of funeral-industry oversight, including the state’s lack of routine funeral-home inspections.
Chicago has also filed a civil lawsuit against Clark and Johanna Morgan and related business entities. The city alleges 23 code violations at South Chicago Chapel, including sanitation and fire-safety deficiencies, and is seeking penalties of as much as $11,500 per day while violations remain unresolved. The allegations have not been decided in court.
No criminal charges had been announced against the Morgans in connection with the South Chicago Chapel discovery as of Wednesday. The sequence of regulatory actions, police contacts and complaints is now central to a broader examination of whether Illinois’ divided oversight system can identify escalating risks before families and communities suffer further harm.
Author note: Last updated September 2, 2026.