No heat, no power as family says goodbye at Detroit funeral home

When the family of Lucy Davis showed up at Barksdale Funeral Home to pay their respects, they weren't greeted by a well-lit room or even heat. The funeral home's power was shut off after an issue with DTE.

The Davis family was left with just two lanterns to view her body as they said goodbye at Barksdale Funeral Home. As it turns out, this place has had trouble with the state in the past. 

In January, the state found unsanitary conditions inside. It closed but reopened several months later. Now the light problems have left it in the dark, leaving no heat or power to view Lucy Ann Davis.

Her son Robert Davis said family and friends were stunned and insulted Friday.

"My mother was a warrior, a soldier, she always kept us in good faith," her son Robert Davis said. "When you do a homecoming it's supposed to be uplifting and right. This is not really a homecoming this is a disgrace."

A Barksdale employee would not share his name said there was issue with their service and DTE was supposed to have had it resolved by noon on Friday. Davis' viewing was at 3 and the issue was not solved.

"They could've told us the day before that they didn't have no umm, that we could take it to another location, they didn't do that," Robert said.

The Barksdale employee said they anticipated the power and heat would have been restored so they didn't try to move to a different time.

They may have tried but they also failed. In the darkest moments of their lives, they were in the dark. 

"That's an insult to me," Robert said.

DTE says while it cannot share specifics about the funeral home's account, it can say that Barksdale called them Thursday about a problem with their service. The company released this statement:

The power is back on at Barksdale now that the account issue is  resolved. There is no word on if the funeral home will discount or waive the cost of the viewing.