STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Rockingham funeral home buries wrong ashes
- Two rotting corpses found inside former Wadesoboro funeral home
- Changes coming to state funeral board inspections after 9 Investigation
In June, police searched the McLendon Funeral Home in Wadesboro after owner, Mary McLendon-Brown, admitted in court that she left two bodies inside.
Bodies found inside Wadesboro funeral home
McLendon-Brown is now in prison for taking families' money but never cremating the remains.
[ IMAGES: Authorities search funeral home property after rotting corpse found ]
State Funeral Board Director, Peter Burke told Eyewitness News both cases are open but Channel 9 learned the problems at McLendon-Brown's business could have been discovered sooner.
Inspectors are supposed to check the state's 751 funeral homes every three years, but at hers, that didn't happen.
Six years went by.
[ CHOPPER 9 VIDEO: Search on at former funeral home after rotting corpse found ]
Burke can't explain why, but said the inspector responsible no longer works for the board.
In 2012, the board shut down McLendon-Brown's business, but an inspector never went there. The bodies went undiscovered for years.
[ DOCUMENT: Board of Funerals decision to shut down McLendon Funeral Home ]
Eyewitness News asked why no one went to check on the building to make sure there were no lingering issues.
"That is one of the improvement processes that we are putting in," said Burke.
- Authorities: 2 decaying corpses found at former funeral home
- Officials to resume search at former funeral home property
- 2nd body found left inside funeral home identified
Changes coming to funeral board
Other changes are coming too after a 2013 state audit pinpointed problems like delayed inspections, no tracking of deficiencies and a lack of follow-ups to ensure violations are corrected.
The board will hire a fourth inspector and now holds monthly meetings.
Kelly Alexander, a state representative, runs his family's funeral home in Charlotte.
He said Channel 9's findings worry him because lawmakers have no authority over the funeral board.
"If by oversight you mean if the state's boards and commissions report to somebody, by and large they do not," said Alexander.
Alexander is looking into legislation to create stronger checks.
Bibee hopes it happens so no other family lives her nightmare.
"I've laid in the bed at night and wondered where my momma was at, " she said. "It's not right and it's not fair."
Neither funeral home director has gone to trial yet on the criminal charges they face.
The funeral board recommends customers research any funeral home for problems or complaints before doing business.
- Oct. 30: Inside the minds of men who abused women
- Oct. 30: Card-skimming at the gas pump
- Nov. 3: NC teachers head to Houston for higher pay, more 'respect'
- Nov. 4: Health concerns over convenience stores
- Nov. 5: The real cost of toll lanes
- Nov. 5: State finds faulty underground gas tanks
- Nov. 6: Mother says Marine son may have died from superbug
- Nov. 6: I-77 toll-lane funding
- Nov. 7: Social media being used to sell welfare benefits in Charlotte
- Nov. 10: Veteran says his family forgotten by VA
- Nov. 11: Illegal immigrants faking crimes to stay in Charlotte