HBO’s new crime docuseries,The Mortician, offers a dark and harrowing true story of how a funeral home betrayed the trust of grieving families and exploited the deceased for monetary gain.The Morticianexplores the scandalous work that took place at Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California, throughout the 1980s. The docuseries is directed by Joshua Rofé, who notably served as the director and executive producer ofLorena(2019) andSasquatch(2021), and contains footage and interviews with many people who witnessed how funeral home practitioners conned families out of thousands of dollars.
The Morticianis set to becomeone of the best documentaries on HBO Max, as it chronicles how a family-owned business managed to deceive thousands of grieving people and exploit many financially to improve their business. As described byDavid Knowles Funeral Service, funeral directors are one of the most trusted professions in the world, due to the amount of trust and understanding that families place in them to help them deal with organizing a loved one’s funeral or memorial service.The Morticianexplores howone man used that trust to his advantage to maximize profitsfor his business.
David Sconce’s Illegal Cremation Business & Crimes Explained
David Sconce Began Working In The Lamb Funeral Home In The 1980s
In the 1980s, the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California, was taken over by David Wayne Sconce, who was the son of funeral homeowners Jerry W. Sconce and Laurieanne Lamb Sconce, and the great-grandson of the founder who established the business in 1929. Before he joined the company, Sconce was an aspiring Southern Californian footballer and enrolled at Azusa Pacific College, where his father served as the head football coach.Sconce had hopes of playing professionally until he suffered a torn ligament at a young age, after which, he dropped out of college and began training to be an embalmer (viaYahoo Entertainment).
In 1982, David Sconce expanded the family business into Coastal Cremations Inc.; his company offered services for half the price of the standard funeral home during the 1980s. While this proved successful in increasing the company’s finances, Sconce came under heavy scrutiny for his handling of bodies. ThroughoutThe Mortician, former employees spoke about howSconce would burn up to 15 bodies at a time in industrial kilns, and stole jewelry and gold teeth from the remains. Sconce’s method often resulted in ashes being mixed and families receiving mixed remains of different people (viaLos Angeles Times).
How David Sconce Was Caught For His Crimes
He Pleaded Guilty In 1989 To Mishandling Human Remains
The work at Coastal Cremations came under suspicion from other funeral services due to the unusually low prices offered for their services and the high speed at which cremations at the company were completed. According to former employees who were interviewed inThe Mortician,Sconce would go so far as to break bones in bodies to ensure that cremations were completed as quickly as possible. Sconce’s former wife, Barbara Hunt, revealed that while he rarely spoke about his work, on one occasion, she saw Sconce working on removing gold teeth from a body, recalling that later, “he sold the gold.”
It wasn’t until 1987 that Sconce’s crimes were publicly exposed. Investigators were contacted by a former World War II soldier who was involved in the liberation of Auschwitz and lived near Coastal Cremations; in his phone call, the former soldier raised his concerns to the authorities about the strong smell of burning flesh emitting from the funeral home. An investigation at the funeral home uncovered trash cans filled with ashes (viaCracked).This resulted inDavid Sconce and his parents being arrested for the mishandling of corpsesand the illegal work at Coastal Cremations being exposed (viaAOL).
What David Sconce’s Sentence Was & How Long He Was In Prison
He Was Arrested In 2013 For Murder Conspiracy
In 1989, David Sconce was charged with 67 counts of mutilating corpses, conducting mass cremations, and masterminding attacks on rival funeral homes. During his trial, despite initially denying the allegations, he pleaded guilty to 21 charges and was sentenced to just five years in prison (viaLos Angeles Times).His parents, Laurieanne and Jerry Sconce, were later acquitted of the charges of mass cremations and corpse mutilation in 1992 (viaMovieDelic).In 1991,Sconce was released from prison after serving just half of his sentence. However, as part of his release, he was placed on probation (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
In 2012, David Sconce was found guilty of violating his probation for possessing a stolen firearm and received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
Sconce continued to face run-ins with the law after his 1989 conviction. In 1990, while he was incarcerated, he was charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of a rival mortician; in 1997, he pleaded guilty to the charges and was placed on lifetime probation, with the warning that any further offenses could result in a life sentence (viaSan Diego Union Tribune). In 2012, David Sconce was found guilty of violating his probation for possessing a stolen firearm and received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison (viaCorrections 1).
What David Sconce Has Said About His Cremation Business & Illegal Actions
He Continues To Deny Any Guilt For His Crimes
InThe Mortician, former clients of the Lamb Funeral Home and Coastal Cremations spoke about their experiences with David Sconce and learning about the true extent of his crimes. One former client spoke about how she trusted Sconce in handling the cremation of her father, only to later discover thatSconce had “violated and desecrated"his body before mixing his ashes with others, describing his actions as “unconscionable”. David Sconce was interviewed as part of the HBO docuseries and spoke about his experiences working in the cremation business and his illegal activities.
Throughout the HBO docuseries,David Sconce expressed no remorse or guilt for his mishandling of corpses, stating that he “[didn’t] put any value on anybody after they’re gone and dead”. He also openly spoke about how he was able to cremate several bodies at a time, boasting in the docuseries that he could “cremate one guy in two hours, or you could put 10 of them in there and take two and a half hours” (viaPeople). Sconce also spoke dismissively about his mixture of human ashes after the cremations were complete, stating “[it’s] not your loved one anymore.”
Where The Mortician’s David Sconce Is Today
Scone Has Been Out On Parole Since 2023
Throughout the HBO docuseries, David Sconce continuously dismissed the public’s opinions on his crimes and expressed that those who signed up for his funeral services got what they paid for. InThe Mortician,it’s shown that during his time as a mortician, Sconce would drive in a Corvette with a license plate that hinted at the dark side of his company’s work in cremations. In 2023, David Sconce was released from prison on parole after serving 10 years of his life sentence and was extradited to California for various parole violations (viaMissoulian).
As of 2025, David Sconce is residing at an undisclosed location in California and has not committed any further crimes since his release from prison.
As of 2025, David Sconce is residing at an undisclosed location in California and has not committed any further crimes since his release from prison. He has maintained a low profile since his release, with his appearance in the HBO docuseries marking his first time publicly speaking about his illegal funeral services. While Sconce gave no reason for his activities, in an interview withTIME, director, Joshua Rofé, stated that the true motivation was money. Rofé also stated that Sconce had a “scary” look in his eyes when speaking about his crimes, making the dark story covered inThe Morticianeven more terrifying.
Sources:David Knowles Funeral Services,Yahoo Entertainment,Los Angeles Times(1),Cracked,AOL,Los Angeles Times(2),MovieDelic,The Atlanta Journal Constitution,San Diego Union Tribune,Corrections 1,People,Missoulian,TIME
The Mortician
The Mortician is a dark drama released in 2025, centering on a family-owned funeral home that conceals its exploitation of grieving families behind a veneer of respectability. As the business thrives under the guise of compassion, the narrative explores themes of trust and manipulation during humanity’s most vulnerable times.
