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Unusual court battle brewing over pastor's remains. He passed 2 months ago and still hasn't been buried

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Published  November 25, 2024 6:08pm CST
Houston
FOX 26 Houston

The Brief

    • An unusual legal dispute has arisen over the burial of 93-year-old Pastor Will Casey Jr. from Houston, who passed away on September 25, 2024, but remains unburied two months later due to a family conflict.
    • The pastor's ex-wife, Joanna Love Casey, claims they remarried shortly before his death; however, his daughter, Teresa R. Casey, contends he had dementia and couldn't have consented to the marriage.
    • The case, now before the courts, has left Pastor Casey's body in limbo at the funeral home, with the decision on burial rights pending and no court date set.

Houston - An unusual court battle is brewing after a Houston pastor passed away back in September 2024, and he still hasn't been buried.

Today is exactly two months since Pastor Will Casey Jr. died, and he still hasn't been laid to rest because, instead of coming together for a funeral, this family will see one another in court. 

Houston Pastor's body unburied for two months due to ongoing family dispute

FOX26's Damali Keith has more on this ongoing dispute.

"I'm hurt. Our school-aged children are hurt. We're devastated," says Joanna Love Casey.

After passing away on September 25, 2024, now more than two months later, 93-year-old Will Casey Jr.'s body is still being held by the funeral home.

"I've got a will. I've got everything I need but no one is hearing what I'm saying," says Joanna Love Casey.

You see, Will Casey and Joanna Love Casey were married for 30 years, divorced earlier this year, and she says they were married again a week and a half before he died.

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However, Mr. Casey's daughter from a previous marriage tells me her dad had dementia, lived with her, and was incapable of signing a marriage license. She says her father did not consent to marrying Joanna again.

According to court records, Mr. Casey's daughter says her dad didn't even know about a marriage license and was "not at the courthouse but at a doctor’s appointment on the other side of town unaware that he was being married".  

"Daddy was bedridden. We had to feed him. I had to clean him. I've had to do everything for my father. He lived with me for a year and a half since they separated," says Teresa R. Casey, Will Casey's daughter.  

"This pastor was a wonderful man for generations and decades in this city. He did so much to help so many," says Community Activist Quanell X, but Pastor of True Vine Holiness Deliverance Temple in Acres Homes still hasn't been buried because the case is now in court. It's up to a judge to decide who rightfully has custody of Pastor Casey's remains.

"I can't rest. I'm not resting because he's not at rest," says Joanna Love Casey.

"Pastor deserves a proper Christian burial and right now he's not being buried. He's sitting in a funeral home like a piece of trash, like a piece of meat that you just store in a freezer," Quanell adds.

"We were supposed to bury daddy at the V.A. because he's a veteran. He's a pastor. He deserves better. I'm having to fight to bury my daddy. I want the County Clerk's Office to do a better job when people bring these affidavits. I want them to do a better screening job so that what I'm going through will never ever happen to anyone else," says Teresa R. Casey, who had a funeral for her father, but he wasn't there since the funeral home is still holding him.

There's no court date set yet. So there's no word on when the case will go before a judge for a decision.