Brittany Greeson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Eric Mays, a longtime and beloved member of the Flint City Council, died from natural causes last month. Then things got weird, according to a new lawsuit.
Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays, identified as the councilman’s only child in court documents filed Monday, alleges that “violations of Michigan law, fraud, and conspiracy by the Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home and four siblings of the late Councilman” have been committed in connection with the handling of his remains.
Mays died without a will, according to the lawsuit, which claims that only his son Eric has next-of-kin rights as to how to handle his remains. But the suit alleges that two of the elder Mays’ siblings instead lied to authorities that he had no children, and that a third sibling—an employee of the Moon Funeral Home—falsely represented to the Genesee County Medical Examiner’s Office that he had the legal authority to authorize the release of his body.