A Mother Was Told Her Son Was “Cremated” in 2012 — 6 Years Later She Found Him at a Las Vegas Exhibit

Las Vegas, Nevada. March 5th, 2018.

Sharon Williams was halfway through her shift at Sunrise Hospital when an unknown number flashed on her phone. She almost ignored it, but something made her answer.

“Hello, Mrs. Sharon Williams?” The voice was professional, careful. “My name is Jennifer Walsh, attorney for Bodies Exhibition Incorporated. I’m calling about a sensitive matter. This concerns your son, Tyler Williams.”

Sharon froze. The world around her faded. “My son died six years ago. He was cremated. I scattered his ashes myself.”

“I understand this is difficult,” Walsh replied. “But we discovered a medical alert bracelet with your son’s name engraved on it, inside one of our exhibition specimens. We need you to come to Las Vegas and help us determine if this is truly your son or a terrible mix-up.”

Sharon’s hands shook. She wanted to hang up, to scream. But what if it wasn’t a mistake? “I’ll come,” she heard herself say. “Tomorrow.”

That night, Sharon lay awake, haunted by memories. Tyler, her only child, died at 22 from diabetes complications. She remembered the call from the funeral director, Richard Carlson, the rushed cremation, the simple urn she carried to Venice Beach, the ashes she scattered into the waves. She grieved, survived, and moved on. Now, someone was telling her Tyler might still be out there.

The next day, Sharon flew to Las Vegas. Jennifer Walsh met her at the hotel, then drove her to the closed Bodies Exhibition. Detective Michael Santos from LVMPD was waiting. “What you’re about to see is difficult,” he warned. “The specimen is plastinated. It doesn’t look like a normal body.”

They led Sharon into a dark, silent exhibit hall. Under bright lights, a male specimen posed in a running stance, muscles and organs exposed. Sharon’s eyes locked on a silver chain embedded in the chest — Tyler’s medical alert bracelet. Her phone number. Her name.

She forced herself to look closer. The scar on the chest from Tyler’s pacemaker surgery. The missing tip of his left ring finger — a woodshop accident in high school. Sharon collapsed in tears. “That’s my son,” she whispered.

Detective Santos took a DNA sample. “If this is Tyler, someone lied to you about his cremation. Someone sold his body. This is a criminal investigation now.”

Back home in LA, Sharon sent everything she had — Tyler’s documents, the cremation receipt, the death certificate. A week later, Santos called. “It’s a match. The specimen is Tyler Williams.”

Sharon was devastated. What had she scattered at the beach? Who had stolen her son?

The investigation unraveled a web of fraud. Richard Carlson, the funeral director, had never cremated Tyler. He forged a consent form, sold Tyler’s body to a broker, Marcus Webb, who then sold it to LifeTech Plastination Laboratory in Las Vegas. Tyler was processed, preserved, and displayed for six years.

But the horror deepened. The medical examiner found evidence of blunt force trauma to Tyler’s skull — a fatal injury. Tyler hadn’t died of diabetes. He’d been killed.

Detectives traced Tyler’s last days. He’d loaned his roommate, Derek Martinez, $15,000. On April 3rd, 2012, they argued. Derek confessed: “We fought. He hit his head on the counter. I panicked. My uncle Richard helped cover it up. He sold Tyler’s body. Gave me half the money.”

Derek was arrested for second-degree murder and conspiracy. Carlson was charged with fraud and body trafficking. But Sharon’s fight wasn’t over. Bodies Exhibition refused to release Tyler’s remains, citing court orders and evidence rules. Sharon was trapped in a legal nightmare, her son treated as property.

The story went viral. Sharon was called a liar, a scammer. She nearly gave up, but found a civil rights attorney, Angela Brooks, who took her case pro bono. Together, they fought for Tyler’s release.

After months of legal battles, Derek’s testimony against Carlson forced a plea deal. Carlson was sentenced to 20 years; Derek to 15. Finally, Tyler’s remains were released.

On April 19th, 2019, Sharon held a real funeral for Tyler. Friends, family, detectives, and advocates gathered at Greater Faith Baptist Church. Pastor James said, “Tyler was taken from us twice. But his mother never stopped fighting. Now he’s home.”

Sharon spoke. “I was angry. But fighting, loving Tyler, refusing to let them forget he was a person — that brought him home. I promise you, baby, I won’t stop fighting. There are other families like ours. They deserve justice too.”

After Tyler’s burial, other families reached out. Sharon started a support group, then a foundation — Tyler’s Truth Foundation — to reform the funeral and body donation industries. Over the next years, she helped hundreds of families, testified before Congress, and pushed for new laws to protect grieving families from fraud and exploitation.

In December 2024, the Dignity and Death Act was signed into law, mandating federal oversight of human remains and criminalizing body trafficking.

Ten years after Tyler’s death, Sharon visited his grave. “Justice isn’t just punishment,” she said. “It’s change. It’s protection. Because of you, the system is better. I’ll keep fighting as long as I can. A mother never stops fighting for her child.”

Tyler Williams was lost to violence, stolen by greed, but returned by love. His story changed an industry, saved hundreds more, and proved that one mother’s fight can move mountains.