FORT WORTH — In a Fort Worth courtroom Wednesday, landlord Jim Labenz described the sights and smells inside the Johnson Family Mortuary.
"Before we went in, we got some wet rags to help us breathe," he said. "I just saw the bodies. It was overwhelming... we had to come back out."
Labenz testified that he was among the first to make the grisly discoveries that led to charges against former funeral home owner Dondre Johnson, 41. In total, Fort Worth police say they found eight bodies left unattended inside that funeral home on South Handley Drive — seven of which were severely decomposed.
For the first time Wednesday, we saw photos from inside the funeral home the day the landlord and others discovered the decomposing bodies as they tried to figure out if Johnson had abandoned his business.
Rick Flynt, who was with Labenz, testified he saw dead flies and body fluids on the floor.
"The rush of air from the building being opened... the smell hit you square in the face," Flynt said.
One of the bodies was Desiree Williams' baby son Titus. She said she became suspicious when Dondre Johnson waited weeks to give her what she thought were her baby's cremated remains. The remains arrived in a container with a torn label.
"When I heard the news [of the discovered bodies], I immediately knew that was Titus… inside the container," Williams tearfully testified. One of the bodies, police have said, was found in a container.
Opening statements were brief, but Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Sid Mody told the jury that Johnson took money from mourning families like the Williamses for funeral services that weren't performed.
Defense attorney Alex Kim acknowledged that horrible things happened at the funeral home. But he maintained that Johnson wasn't in charge — his wife, Rachel Hardy, was. Hardy, 41, is also charged in this case. She is currently in a federal prison on an unrelated food stamps fraud charge.
Trial is expected to last about a week, Kim said. He said he doesn't know yet if Dondre Johnson will take the stand.
If convicted, he could face up to two years in state jail.
