WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Nearly 30 days after the Williams family was thrown into chaos when they said Doyley’s Funeral Services could not produce the body of their 90-year-old relative Roy Williams, a long-awaited breakthrough has come — but it has only opened the door to a fresh, contentious conflict between the grieving family and the local funeral home.
On Thursday, funeral home representatives turned over a body to the family for genetic testing to confirm identity, bringing a temporary end to the family’s weeks-long search for answers. But the two sides are already at odds over two key details: whether a DNA sample was collected on Thursday, and whether the body now provided is the same one displayed at Roy Williams’ funeral service last month.
In an interview with local media, a senior executive at Doyley’s Funeral Services flatly denied that any DNA testing procedure had taken place that day. The executive also asserted that the body presented this week is identical to the one brought to Savanna-la-Mar Seventh-day Adventist Church for the May 17 funeral service.
That account is categorically rejected by the Williams family. Roy Williams, a former resident of the Savanna-la-Mar Infirmary, had been missing from the funeral home’s custody for nearly a month prior to Thursday’s development. His sister, Andrea McDonald, told reporters that the body turned over this week bears no physical resemblance to the corpse the family viewed during the May service.
Despite the ongoing dispute, McDonald acknowledged the family is relieved to finally have a body they believe matches their late relative. “It makes no sense they try to play us. This is not it. This is not the body that we had before. But we are happy that they have located him where he was and we’re happy that they brought him to us,” McDonald said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.
McDonald explained the family holds concrete photographic and video evidence that proves the two bodies are not the same. She was present in Jamaica for the May funeral, and captured images of the corpse displayed at the service — including photos of the face and full body. She also noted that footage from the funeral ceremony itself further documents the mismatch between the first body and the one provided on Thursday. “I have both pictures. This is two different people,” McDonald emphasized.
Roy Williams’ brother, Bishop Dr. Oliver Williams, backed up the family’s claim that a DNA test was completed Thursday, saying McDonald witnessed the entire procedure firsthand. “She witnessed everything,” Williams stated.
McDonald shared that upon first seeing the new body, she believed its resemblance to her brother was strong enough that genetic confirmation might not be needed. But the family’s legal counsel advised them to follow through with the planned DNA testing to resolve the ongoing controversy once and for all. “Because of the controversy, the lawyer said yes, let’s go through with it,” McDonald explained.
She also described the visibly deteriorated condition of the body provided Thursday, noting it showed clear signs of decomposition that matched a corpse that had recently been disinterred. “It looked like it was being exhumed from somewhere. It looked like a mummy’s body. Just like how you see a mummy look. You could see where parts of it had been decomposed — the neck, the hands, the feet,” McDonald said.
As the family waits for the DNA results that will allow them to lay Roy Williams to rest properly, they are now pressing for answers about the identity of the first body displayed at the May funeral. The funeral home has maintained that it only has one body, which it claims is Williams’, leaving the family with unresolved questions. “Resoundingly we said yes, this is the body that we were missing. But where is the other body that they had before? Where is it? Where is the previous body? We still haven’t seen that body today (Thursday) because they said they don’t have another body, they said this is the body. But thank God we have pictures of the body that they gave us before,” McDonald said.
Looking back on the weeks of uncertainty and grief that have stretched over the past month, McDonald acknowledged the ordeal has taken a devastating emotional toll on the entire family. “For right now let’s take it step by step. But trust me, we have gone through hell with this,” she reflected.
The attorney representing the Williams family had committed to returning a request for comment from the Jamaica Observer, but no response had been received as of the publication of this report.