OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – An Oklahoma City man trying to make funeral arrangements for his father said a local funeral home held the body for nearly three months. 

Mateo Rosas said his family worked with the Heritage Funeral Home in OKC to transport his father’s body back to his hometown in Mexico shortly after he died in December.

“We [wanted] to get him shipped over to Mexico so that he can be buried [with] the rest of my family,” he said Thursday in an interview with KFOR.

“We knew that it was going to be a little bit longer because it is a unique process. We didn’t anticipate it to be three months,” he added.

Noting a language barrier for his father’s wife, Rosas stepped in to help with the arrangements, and said the company was helpful in the beginning. 

However, Rosas said once the family paid the required deposits, Heritage stopped communicating with them.

“A lot of the updates that we got were very vague. They weren’t very clear. And then up towards the end, they just weren’t communicating with me at all,” he added.

“The director stopped reaching out and when [the family went] to see my [dad’s body] he closed the door in my dad’s wife’s face and basically refused to speak with them. I said I was going to get a lawyer and report them to the Better Business Bureau,” he continued.

Rosas said the company claims they finally shipped the body on Thursday; however, Heritage would not confirm to KFOR by phone, saying they would only speak to family members. 

Rosas said the company still has not contacted him to confirm concrete shipping details.

“The funeral home here in Oklahoma did not contact the funeral home in Mexico [and] it is a little worrisome if he’s actually going to arrive in the right place,” he said.

Rosas said his father’s wife took a bus down to Mexico in hopes of meeting the transport company at the funeral home when they arrive. 

“My whole family just wants [my father] to be put to rest so that he can be in peace.”