No one claims homeless man's body for burial

Chaguanas vendor Marcia Connell fears that 65-year-old Glen Thomas – the homeless man she took in – may not get the proper burial she hoped he would.

In two months none of his relatives has shown up at the San Fernando Mortuary to claim his body.

Connell, who cared for Thomas for three years before he died, said officials told her they cannot release the body to her, but only to his relatives.

“I wish I could tell him I am sorry. I do not want to give up trying to get a proper burial for him.

"But it is turning out to be hopeless. I have been back and forth at the San Fernando Mortuary and they keep telling me the same thing, that only his blood relatives could claim his body.

"I have nothing to gain from this. I just think Mr Thomas was a human being and he deserves a proper funeral."

Connell said she was also told that once a body stays at the mortuary over a certain period, it is disposed of .

“Yes he was a stranger who I did not know and I took him in because he needed help. Mr Thomas was not an animal.”

Since the story was shared by Newsday, people who knew Thomas have contacted her.

"I did get some calls and messages from people who are not family, but knew him by seeing him around. Someone said he was from the Marabella area."

She said in conversations with Thomas in the past he had told her that both his parents, whom he identified as Joyce Thomas and Larry Carrington, had died.

In 2018, after Connell took in Thomas, he stayed in a room in the yard of her Chaguanas home. He suffered a stroke and died at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) on August 30 this year. He is now listed at the mortuary as a John Doe, that is, unidentified person.

Connell said weeks before Thomas died, he had left her Chaguanas home and did not return. She did not know he had suffered seizures and collapsed. Connell went out on the streets looking for him. She also went to the Chaguanas Police Station, Chaguanas Hospital, Eric Williams Science Complex Sciences, and the SFGH.

At the SFGH, she later learned Thomas had been warded for some time and died. there.

Over the last three years with Connell’s assistance, Thomas had acquired an ID card and birth certificate, which she wanted to give to his relatives. "He just wanted to be a somebody and not spat on (on) the streets. He was so happy when he mattered.

"Please, I begging, if anyone knows Thomas' family, please call me, or please please go to the mortuary and claim his body so he can be given a proper burial. Please."

Connell can be reached at 326-5474.