San Jose father sues funeral home director Anita Singh after receiving their son Alexander Piñon's brain in a bag

A father has filed a lawsuit against Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel in San Jose, Lima Family Santa Clara Mortuary and licensed funeral director Annette "Anita" Singh for handling him a bag with his son's brain in it. Alexandera Piñon passed away on May 19, 2025, inside a Santa Clara home.

According to the lawsuit, after Piñon's passing, his mother entered a contract with Lima to pay more than $10,000 for a "full-service memorial tribute package."

This contract included services such as embalming, dressing, casketing, transportation of remains, and a funeral service.

Piñon's family later decided that they wanted him to be dressed in different clothes for the funeral than the ones he was wearing when he died.

California family says a funeral director gave them a bag with their own son's brain in it.

The family of 27-year-old Alexander Pinon has filed a lawsuit, claiming funeral director Anita Singh gave them their son's brain instead of his clothes.
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On June 4, his father met with Singh at the mortuary to collect his son's original clothing. According to the lawsuit, Singh handed him a red bag, which was marked as containing biohazardous material and told him it held his son's clothes.

When Alexander's father returned home, he "opened up his washing machine, and dumped the contents of the bag straight into the washing machine," only to discover that the bag, which was said to have clothes, contained "human brain matter."

"The bag did not contain any clothing, but rather, it only contained human brain matter," their attorney said.

Alexander Piñon's father scooped the brain matter out of his washing machine - Reports

The lawsuit further alleges that Alexander Piñon's father "scooped the brain matter out of his washing machine – not aware that it was his son’s brain matter – and puts it back in the red bag."

He later returned the bag to Anita, who, according to the lawsuit, "never disclosed whose brain it was, never gave information, no apologies, and said, 'I'll take that from here.'"

"At that point, they had no idea that it was their son's brain that was in the washing machine. They didn't know if it was mixed up with somebody else's brain, whether it was their son's, they had not a single idea," their attorney noted.

Alex was buried the next day, on June 5, at Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery. A whistleblower from the funeral home confirmed weeks later that the bag actually contained his brain, the lawsuit adds.

It has also been alleged that after the initial mix-up, Anita put it in a box and placed it outside in the funeral home's courtyard for about two-and-a-half months.

Eventually, another employee noticed the box and was "overwhelmed with the smell" of "a rotting human brain."

"The handling of decedent’s remains … has caused plaintiffs extreme emotional distress, trauma, and mental anguish. Discovering one’s own child’s brain matter in a washing machine and then having to scoop it out … is a horror no family should ever endure. Plaintiffs have suffered shock, grief, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and other lasting psychological injuries … (and) interfered with their ability to find closure in the grieving process," the attorney said.

Stay tuned for more updates.