A mother in Oregon has been plunged into renewed grief after a judge ordered the exhumation of her son's remains, following a catastrophic error by a funeral home that double-booked his burial plot.
A Tragic Error and a Heartbreaking Discovery
Paula Tin Nyo, 62, purchased interment rights for a plot at Skyline Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home in 2021. She believed it was a newly created space for her son, Tyber Harrison, who was 20 years old when he was tragically killed by a truck in March 2016 near the University of Central Florida.
However, in 2022, she received the devastating news that the plot had already been sold years earlier. Martin and Jane Reser, heirs to the Reser's Fine Foods fortune, had bought it in 2019 for their son, Alex Reser, who died from a fentanyl overdose aged 30. Alex Reser is interred nearby in the family plot.
Legal Battle and a Court's Painful Ruling
Skyline Memorial Gardens admitted the grave double-booking blunder but insisted it must honour the first purchase. The funeral home sued Tin Nyo in 2023 to resolve the dispute. In early December, Judge Eric J. Neiman ruled the plot legally belonged to the Reser family and ordered that Harrison's remains be exhumed.
Tin Nyo filed a counterclaim for $17 million in emotional damages. In a subsequent ruling on December 22, a jury found the funeral home was negligent but had not inflicted 'severe emotional distress'. The court heard that Tin Nyo had breached her contract by placing personal mementos—including a small amount of her son's ashes, his baby teeth, and hair—in the burial vault without authorisation, which is prohibited under Oregon law.
A Family's Unimaginable Anguish
David Williams, Tin Nyo's husband, spoke of the family's trauma. "The cruelty, and someone feeling so entitled that they just wanted that piece of property when someone’s son is already in the ground was sort of unfathomable," he told local media. He expressed disbelief that the court did not recognise his wife's suffering.
Before the exhumation began, Tin Nyo was seen in an emotional vigil at the graveside. The funeral home stated it had repeatedly offered alternative interment rights and remedies. Their attorney, Heather St. Clair, urged the court to "look at facts over feelings."
Tin Nyo's attorney, Darian Stanford, expressed profound disappointment at the verdict, stating the family "deserve better." The Reser family, referred to as John and Jayne Smith in the lawsuit, did not wish to be involved in the litigation but were compelled to join.
The case highlights a shocking failure in the management of sacred funeral arrangements, leaving a grieving mother to endure a second, deeply painful goodbye.
