Woman found still alive at funeral home dies hours later

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN/Gray News) - The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said a woman who’d been pronounced dead and later came back to life in a Lincoln funeral home has died.

Constance Glantz, 74, was pronounced dead for a second time at 4 p.m. Monday, according to Chief Deputy Ben Houchin.

Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon ordered an autopsy that will be performed at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The sheriff’s office will give an update once the final autopsy report is completed. The investigation is ongoing.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after she’d been pronounced dead but was discovered to still be alive in the funeral home.

Earlier, around 9:45 a.m. Monday, Glantz had been pronounced dead by staff at The Mulberry nursing home in Waverly. She had been in hospice, and nursing staff were expecting her to die, according to Houchin.

The funeral home staff took her body to their facility.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue responded to the funeral home at 11:43 a.m. on Monday after a caller said CPR was in progress for the woman.

While preparing her body for funeral arrangements, a funeral home staff member noticed she was still breathing and called 911.

Emergency officials took Glantz to the hospital, where she died hours later.

Houchin said officials at the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home have been cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.

“I also want to state in our investigation that the funeral home did nothing wrong. They are the ones that found that she was still alive,” Houchin said.

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