NEWSTennessee Woman Sues Funeral Home Over Late Husband's Clothes Delivered With Brain Matter, Calling Experience 'Mind-Blowing'
Sheila McGilvrey described the disturbing experience after receiving her late husband's belongings.
Sept. 25 2026, Published 10:03 a.m. ET
A grieving Tennessee woman ended up suing the funeral home when she was allegedly delivered her late husband's belongings covered in brain matter.
In fact, that experience was so distasteful for the widow, identified as Sheila McGilvrey of Blountville, that she referred to it as "mind-blowing."
Sheila McGilvrey Received Her Husband's Clothes With Brain Matter
Sheila McGilvrey recalled opening the bag containing her late husband Richard Pretzeus’ clothes.
According to the disturbing lawsuit, McGilvrey claims she was handed her husband, Richard Pretzeus’ clothes in September last year, a week after he tragically took his own life.
She reportedly told WJHL, “It was a brown sack, and it just was stapled, had the word ‘clothing’ stamped on it. I open that brown sack and on the inside was a white plastic trash bag.”
“The cinch-tie ones, you know, you have to kind of put your fingers in that little hole to pull it back open, and when I did that, my fingers kind of raked across something,” the widow continued.
Sheila McGilvrey described the shocking discovery that left her fainting after opening her husband’s clothes.
When McGilvrey glanced down “it looked to be chunks of brain matter on top of the pile of clothing.”
Looking at it, she reportedly promptly passed out before being helped up and out of the room by her son, who disposed of the bag in an outdoor fire pit.
Per the widow, her late husband's clothing was also covered in a “sticky bodily fluid.”
“It took a long time for me to process what happened because it’s just mind-blowing,” she said.
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McGilvrey Reached Out to Many Agencies After the Incident
Sheila McGilvrey sought answers after authorities reportedly dismissed the disturbing discovery as an accident.
As she continued to share to the outlet, “It’s so unbelievable, you can imagine. So, after that, I reached out to several different agencies.”
While authorities brushed her baffling discovery as a mere accident that didn’t require consequences, the National Association of Medical Examiners (N.A.M.E.) didn’t.
“N.A.M.E. told me that it must have been an oversight … on their medical examiner’s part,” McGilvrey said. “So that’s basically the gist of the email that they sent back.”
Sheila McGilvrey sued Weaver Funeral Home for $2.2 million after the disturbing incident.
An autopsy was performed by contractor William L. Jenkins Forensic Center, a contractor under the auspices of the Sullivan County medical examiner.
Meanwhile, McGilvrey and her son are suing Weaver Funeral Home for $2.2 million after the shocking experience, claiming the incident caused them “severe emotional distress and suffering.”
On the other hand, Sullivan County District Attorney Barry Staubus told the outlet that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looked into the accident.
However, they did not find any criminal wrongdoing.
