Who is Randy Lankford?
Randy Lankford, the owner of Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center, was charged with more than 40 counts of felony theft for failing to complete funeral services for which he was paid. The director of an Indiana funeral home where 31 decomposing bodies and the remains of 17 others were found last year after cremation pleaded guilty Friday to felony burglary charges.
Police in Jeffersonville, a southern Indiana city of about 50,000, began investigating the funeral home in early July after a report of a strong odor coming from the building, police said at the time. The unrefrigerated bodies were in various states of decomposition and police claimed the longest had been stored there since March 2022.
Judge N. Lisa Glickfield offered a 12-year sentence, four years as an executed sentence, and eight years of home confinement. He was released to home detention on Friday. The terms of Lankford’s settlement waive the 50-year-old’s right to appeal the more than 40 felony robbery charges he faced.
Lankford was ordered to pay restitution to 53 families, totaling $46,000. Sentencing for him is set for 9 a.m. on June 23. Family members of victims will be able to share prepared statements and may file contingent restitution claims of up to $1,000.
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Clark County Chief Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said a large number of charges against Lankford and existing legal backing dating back to the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the process. Mull feels that the state’s move to drop about half of the charges will provide the most immediate form of relief.
“We wanted to get justice for these families,” he said.
Cynthia Cape of Louisville used the services of Lankford for the arrangements of her husband Sam Battaglia Jr. One year before her date of death on April 22, 2022, she received her cremated ashes after the DNA testing will cause time-consuming delays.
After her first court experience with Lankford in the courtroom, she said she was upset that he would be imprisoned in her home, but she acknowledged the small victory of obtaining her husband’s remains.
“This just showed me how difficult this can really be,” Cape said.
Derrick Kessinger had three loved ones, his father’s Mickey Kessinger, his fiancée Aierell Barton and his father’s Richard Barton, in the care of Lankford Funeral Home. Although he was surprised when he heard the terms of the plea and indifferent to the restitution money, the father of two young children said he was relieved that the proceedings were over.
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