All 55 decomposing bodies found at South Chicago Chapel funeral home identified by Cook County Medical Examiner's Office

More than two months after authorities found dozens of decomposing bodies inside the South Chicago Chapel on the Far South Side, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office has identified all 55 people whose bodies were found inside the funeral home.

Officials previously said that 56 bodies were found inside the funeral home, but have since determined it was actually 55.

The medical examiner's office said that there were 55 decomposing bodies found, and one bag of organs that authorities originally believed to be a different person, but that DNA testing confirmed belonged to one of the 55 bodies.

South Chicago Chapel's funeral director's license was suspended in early August, when state regulators found decomposing bodies were being kept in "deplorable conditions" that included rodent and maggot infestations.

According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation records, the state suspended the license of funeral director Johanna Morgan due to a finding that the facility's "continued practice is a danger to the public safety, interest and welfare."

Records show Morgan had been "allowing multiple decedents to be kept in an unrefrigerated area with deplorable conditions including rodent infestation, causing decomposition and maggot infestation of the bodies."

Her husband, Clark Morgan, previously was caught improperly handling bodies at the Heights Crematory in south suburban Chicago Heights in March 2025. 

After that discovery, the Illinois State Comptroller's office, which regulates crematoriums, tried over and over and over again to get the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which regulates funeral homes, to suspend Johanna's funeral director license. 

For their part, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said they filed formal disciplinary charges against Johanna Morgan in October 2025. But the agency has yet to agree to an interview to help explain why she still had her license before it was suspended in August 2026.

In May 2025, after shutting down Heights Crematory, the Comptroller's office asked why the Morgans hadn't faced any criminal charges. According to emails CBS News Chicago obtained through records requests, Illinois State Police forwarded a long list of possible charges to the Cook County States Attorney's Office:

• 443 potential violations of the Crematory Regulation Act 
• 715 counts involving the Integrity in Death Care Act. 
• And 8 counts of abuse of a corpse. 

But a spokesperson for the Cook County States Attorney's office said in August that, upon receiving the info from state police, they "recommended that ISP continue their investigation and consider the possibility of financial crimes." 

Last month, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Clark and Johanna Morgan and several of their business entities, accusing them of 23 building code violations at South Chicago Chapel. Among other allegations, the lawsuit accuses them of failing to keep the building "clean, sanitary and safe," failing to install fire alarms or carbon monoxide detectors anywhere in the building, and unpermitted construction on the second floor. The city is asking a judge to fine the owners $11,500 per day for every day the violations go uncorrected.