Woman, 20, about to be embalmed in Detroit funeral home found to be still ALIVE

Timesha Beauchamp
Family Handout
Kit Heren25 August 2020

A woman has been found alive at a funeral home as she was about to be embalmed after being declared dead.

Emergency services were called after Timesha Beauchamp, 20, suffered a heart attack at home in the suburbs of Detroit at around 7.30am local time on Sunday morning.

Paramedics tried to keep her alive for about half an hour before a doctor declared her dead, according to the Southfield fire department.

A coroner said that her body could be released back to her family without an autopsy.

The James H. Cole funeral home, where Ms Beauchamp was found to be alive 
Google Maps

Ms Beauchamp was about to have her blood drained as part of the embalming process when funeral home staff realised she was still alive.

"Our staff confirmed she was breathing” and called a emergency medical crew, the James H. Cole funeral home said.

Family lawyer Geoffrey Fieger told local TV station WXYZ-TV: "They would have begun draining her blood to be very, very frank about it.

“They were about to embalm her, which is most frightening, had she not had her eyes open... The funeral home unzipping the body bag, literally that’s what happened to Timesha, and seeing her alive with her eyes open."

Ms Beauchamp, who has special needs, is now in a critical condition on a ventilator in a Detroit hospital.

Head of Southfield Fire Department Johnny Menifee 
Southfield Fire Department

Mr Fieger speculated that the 90 minutes of medical treatment Ms Beauchamp lost while in the medical home could prove critical in her recovery.

Ms Beauchamp's mother Erica Lattimore: "Somebody pronounced my child dead and she’s not even dead. She’s in the hospital."

"I told them, 'Are you absolutely, 100 per cent sure that she’s gone?' They said, 'Yes, ma’am, she’s gone,'" she told WDIV-TV.

Southfield officials maintain that all the normal procedures were followed.

The fire department said in a statment: “At 7:34 a.m. on August 23, 2020, Southfield Fire Department paramedics arrived at a home in Southfield on a call for an unresponsive female. When paramedics arrived, they found a 20-year-old who was not breathing.

"The paramedics performed CPR and other life reviving methods for 30 minutes. Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life.”