Cops: Woman brought to funeral home was alive

A funeral home in Miller Place received a breathing woman Saturday after being told she was dead, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

The 82-year-old had been pronounced dead at the Water's Edge Rehab & Nursing Center at Port Jefferson and was transported to the O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place, "where it was determined she was breathing," the department's press office wrote in an email.

 A state health department spokesperson said Sunday the agency is investigating the incident but declined to share more information.

She was transported to a local hospital, police detectives are investigating, and the matter has been referred to the state attorney general's office, police said. Police said there were no new updates in the investigation Sunday evening.

The woman's name hasn't been disclosed.

The woman had been pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m., transported to the funeral home at 1:30 p.m. and discovered to be breathing at 2:09 p.m., according to the press office.

A receptionist at the funeral home said Saturday she knows nothing about the incident. A woman who answered the phone at the nursing home declined to comment. Neither gave her name.

On Sunday morning O.B. Davis Funeral Home declined to comment.

“Out of respect for the privacy and confidentiality of the families we are honored to serve, we are not in a position to comment further on this matter,” according to a statement from the funeral home.

In January an Iowa funeral home found a woman gasping for air when staff unzipped a body bag, after an Alzheimer's care facility pronounced her dead, according to a state citation.

— With Michael O'Keefe and Brinley Hineman

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.