MILWAUKEE — Chabria Walls of Milwaukee knows more than anyone about loss.
She lost her mother to COVID-19 last April, and she gave birth to a stillborn baby this past October. She named the baby girl, Ja'Miracle.
But Thursday, her wounds reopened. Her child's father, Rickey Woods, opened up the urn holding Ja'Miracle's ashes and saw a certificate of cremation with another child's name on it.
"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts," Walls cried.
"I took a lot of losses last year. This is times two," she said.
"You just don't do that. You just don't make those types of mistakes," she cried.
"I opened the box and it wasn't her. It was kind of devastating," said Woods.
Walls isn't convinced the ashes are Ja'Miracle's ashes.
"I can't accept it. I can't. I don't know if that's my child. I don't know if that's my child," she said.
TMJ4 News reached out to Pitts Mortuary. That's the funeral home Walls used for cremation services. They apologized profusely.
The funeral home told TMJ4 News the ashes are Ja'miracle's ashes, but that an employee mistakenly gave Walls another baby's certificate of cremation. That other baby had also died in October.
"So what is Pitts going to do to make sure this never happens again?" Kristin Byrne with TMJ4 News asked the funeral home over the phone.
Pitts told us they have fired the employee responsible for making the mistake and will continue to talk with Chabria Walls to make it right on her terms.
The funeral home also said that in the more than 50 years it has been serving the community, a mistake like this has never happened.
Walls has returned the ashes.
"I can forgive, but I will not forget. I won't forget," said Walls.
