The Mortician on HBO Max: The Story Behind David Sconce and Lamb Funeral Home
Documentary series about a mortician in California who systematically desecrated corpses and operated illegal crematories
What is the series about?
The Mortician (HBO Max, 2025) investigates one of the most macabre cases in American criminal history, centered around David Sconce and his family business, Lamb Funeral Home. The second episode of the documentary series specifically focuses on the escalation of illegal activities following a massive fire in 1986 that destroyed the business's official crematorium. Director Joshua Rofé uncovers how David Sconce transformed an otherwise respectable funeral home into an industrial profit machine, where respect for the dead was completely absent. The series uses archival footage and witness testimonies to paint a portrait of a man who saw the bereaved as nothing more than a source of income.
The real case
The real case of David Sconce began in Pasadena, California, in the 1980s. Sconce operated through Lamb Funeral Home, where he systematically desecrated corpses for personal gain. After the fire in 1986, he moved operations to an illegal oven (a kiln) in the California desert. Here, he conducted mass cremations, where multiple bodies were burned simultaneously. To make room for the many corpses in the oven, the bones of the deceased were brutally crushed. However, Sconce did not stop at illegal cremations; he extracted gold fillings and jewelry from the dead, stole their clothing to resell it, and mixed the ashes of different individuals, meaning that hundreds of families received the wrong remains of their loved ones.
The case was discovered under almost cinematic circumstances. A neighbor of the desert operation, a World War II veteran who had helped liberate Auschwitz, recognized the distinctive smell of burnt human flesh and alerted the police. During the arrest and subsequent trial in 1989, it emerged that this was a generational criminal enterprise, with Sconce's parents also involved in the shady dealings. David Sconce was initially convicted of theft and abuse of a corpse, but his legal history continued for decades, including a conviction for weapon possession in 2013.
Timeline of the case
- 1982-1986: Systematic theft from the deceased and illegal handling of corpses at Lamb Funeral Home.
- 1986: The crematorium in Pasadena burns down, and Sconce establishes an illegal station in Hesperia.
- 1987: Police conduct a raid and find evidence of massive fraud involving cremations.