Funeral Director William Ellenberg Dismembers 800-Pound Body, License Suspended

More companies in the funeral industry are offering oversize caskets these days, but apparently difficulties remain when it comes to tending to the bodies of the obese. The owner of a crematory service in the greater Atlanta area recently admitted to dismembering the body of a deceased woman, estimated to weigh 800 pounds, in order to fit it into a crematory, reports WGCL-TV. On Sept. 20, his license was suspended.

William B. Ellenberg III, the funeral director of Metro Embalming and Crematory in Conyers, Ga., confessed to cutting off the fatty tissue on the side of a woman's legs back in July, but defended the action as necessary. "It wasn't disrespectful," he told the local TV station. "I did what I had to do to get the body cremated for the family."