Morgue to Grave Pipeline?

Morgue to Grave Pipeline?

In sharp contrast to his complete unavailability regarding Lakeside Cemetery, Howze Jr. actively promotes himself as the CEO of House of Paradise Cremation and Funeral Services, Inc. (H.O.P.), located just off East Lake Road. This is an Erie branch of the Pittsburgh funeral home of the same name, owned and operated by licensed funeral director Shamiah Coulverson. In Pennsylvania, funeral homes must operate under the supervision of a fully licensed funeral director in good standing. While Howze previously held trainee and intern-level credentials—granted after a basic mortuary science program of two years or less—this entry-level training is insufficient for independent practice or funeral home management. It omits state licensing exams, required internships, supervised experience hours, and formal certification needed to oversee operations. Public records show Howze Jr.’s introductory permits have since lapsed.

Although Howze Jr. and Coulverson are the owners, H.O.P. Erie is officially licensed under Reverend Willard Owens Rhodes, a 73-year-old funeral director and pastor. Licensed directors are required to be present for key activities such as embalming, final disposition, and family arrangements; however, at least one family reported that Reverend Rhodes was absent during what they describe as an emotionally distressing process, raising serious questions about whether proper oversight is consistently exercised.

H.O.P. markets itself as “family-owned”—a label that can suggest warmth and trust—but here appears to function more as a marketing device than as evidence of professional competence.The Erie funeral home is primarily staffed by Howze Jr.’s relatives and close associates, including his sister Marissa, whose background is in hair braiding and who serves as receptionist and self-described “grief coach.” 

Compounding concerns about oversight and professionalism, H.O.P has employed non-licensed individuals with troubling criminal histories in roles that involve direct interaction with grieving families. One staff member, James C. Hunter II—hired in June 2022 by Coulverson—was already a convicted felon who was “sentenced in federal court to 30 months’ probation and ordered to pay $49,617.00 in restitution on his conviction of theft of government property” in 2018. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “from July 2012 to June 2015, Hunter… committed food stamp fraud by accepting food stamps and WIC checks for cash or ineligible items such as cigarettes” at a local convenience store he owned.

Despite hiring him after his conviction, in June 2022, Coulverson later sued her employee in 2024 in civil court, alleging that Hunter used her funeral home’s name, business address, and proprietary documents to create fraudulent business entities and solicit prepaid funeral services that he was not licensed to provide, misleading vulnerable individuals into believing they were contracting with the legitimate funeral home. According to the lawsuit, at least eight victims were identified, and the complaint states that additional individuals may come forward. Despite this history, there appears to be no further public accounting or criminal restitution for any additional misconduct he may have engaged in while employed at House of Paradise under Coulverson’s ownership.

The consequences of these staffing and oversight failures are tangible and severe. Families have reported financial exploitation, delays in cremation and other services, theft of personal items, delays in producing purchased headstones, and repeated misinformation—all of which intensify the emotional trauma of losing a loved one. John Hall, for example, states he experienced nearly a month-long delay before his mother’s cremation was completed, during which he was misinformed about the location of her body, had sentimental requests ignored, such as having her ring returned, and received an incorrect date of death in her obituary, while his sister was subjected to unprofessional conduct by a staff member. These failures, combined with the employment of individuals with criminal histories and documented fraudulent activity, reflect a systemic pattern: a business model in which proper oversight, regulatory compliance, and ethical standards are consistently disregarded. When similar personnel and management practices extend across both the funeral home and Lakeside Cemetery, vulnerable families are left navigating a ‘morgue-to-grave pipeline,’ in which their loved ones’ care can be compromised at every stage.

Compared to Lakeside, at first glance H.O.P. at least projects a polished image: staffed phone lines, an active website and social media, branded photo backdrops, community outreach, and public-facing events including a ribbon-cutting and an Easter egg hunt. While the funeral home invests in appearances, Lakeside Cemetery is treated as a back-end extension: funerals and interments occur, but maintenance, dignity, and historic significance are neglected. Perpetual care groundskeeping is ignored, longstanding families overlooked, and the cemetery’s emotional and cultural importance sidelined.

Critics warn that Howze Jr.’s simultaneous control of both funeral services and cemetery operations—without visible professional infrastructure or experienced personnel—raises serious ethical and legal concerns. Licensed funeral directors do sometimes own cemeteries as well, but those arrangements typically include trained staff, regulatory transparency, operational accountability, and community trust. None of these safeguards appear to be reliably in place at Lakeside or H.O.P.

Without such oversight, families face risks ranging from poor record-keeping and neglected grounds to unanswered needs and potentially mishandled remains. When the same small group controls funeral arrangements and burials, yet fails to communicate or address problems, it creates a closed loop with no transparency and no effective recourse. Separate business names obscure the shared ownership, leaving consumers unaware that the same unregulated team handles every step of the process.

The Hall family’s experience demonstrates that these risks are not merely theoretical. Similar failures have caused serious consequences across Pennsylvania and nationally. In 2008, Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in California became a national scandal when its owner—who also operated a funeral home—buried multiple bodies in the same graves, discarded ashes in garbage bags, and committed fraud. Even licensed oversight failed to prevent abuse, demonstrating how gaps in regulation can have devastating consequences.