Breaking News: Parents of burned boy ask court to decide burial plans

Eleven-year-old Joshua Merritt's funeral service was conducted July 1.

Both sides of the family say they still don't have closure.

His casket and embalmed corpse remain in storage at a Bloomfield funeral home until a Greene County judge decides where the final resting place will be.

The biological parents of Joshua Jon Merritt, who died June 24 from injuries sustained in a tragic fire accident, went to court Tuesday afternoon seeking some answers to whether he will be buried as his mother desires or cremated as his father wishes.

Joshua Merritt's custodial mother, Lisa Mae (Crays) Burris, of rural Newberry, filed suit in Greene Circuit Court on July 2 seeking a declaratory judgment to allow the burial to take place as previously arranged with Jenkins and Sons Funeral Home in Bloomfield.

The burial had been scheduled to take place July 1 at the Scotland Cemetery -- following Joshua Merritt's funeral service at the funeral home.

However, the father refused to grant permission for the burial. The mother followed with the petition to the court to intervene in the case.

Indiana law outlines that a decedent's surviving parents have the authority to designate the manner of final disposition and interment of a decedent's remains and either parent has such authority unless a licensed funeral director or licensed funeral home or cemetery association receives a written objection from the other parent.

Peter Merritt filed the objection with the funeral home and Burris' attorney.

He wants the boy's body to be cremated and wants to take half of the ashes back home with him to be spread in a river near a yacht club close to his home. He proposed to leave the remainder of the ashes with the boy's mother to be buried, if she desires.

In the complaint filed by Burris' attorney, Karen Stueh wrote, "Given the nature of the child's injuries that led to his death and the experience of the family attending to the child prior to his death, Mother is horrified that Father seeks to subject the child's body to being burned again and she refuses to consider the option of cremation."

Now Greene Circuit Judge Erik Allen will be charged with making the decision for the feuding parents, who have not lived together since 2003.

Allen heard testimony from both parties for more than a hour and then said he would have a written decision by Wednesday.

Judge Allen expressed sorrow and condolences to the family members who gathered for the hearing.

The judge pointed out there is "no legal guidance" for his decision and said he was going to have to do some "soul searching" in deciding the outcome.

"I hope you find comfort regardless of the decision. I am very sorry for the loss of your son," Judge Allen stated.

Lisa Burris told the court that her son, Josh, was slated to be buried in a plot next to his best friend, 10-year-old Nick Decker, who died May 29 from injuries suffered in the same fire on April 18 that seriously burned both boys.

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Both boys suffered burns over more than 90 percent of their bodies in an accident involving gasoline that was put on a smoldering fire pit.

The gasoline exploded and consumed both boys.

Josh was a fourth grade student at East Elementary School in Loogootee and previously attended Bloomfield Elementary School. Nick was a fourth grade student at Bloomfield Elementary School.

She tearfully testified that she and Peter Merritt had lived together from the time of Josh's birth in 1998 until 2003.

In 2004, she filed a paternity case and was awarded legal custody of Josh. She was also granted child support for Josh, which she contends has not been paid on a regular basis.

Burris' lawyer told the court that Peter Merritt was about $8,000 in arrears on his child support at the time of Josh's death.

Burris said child support payments from Peter Merritt to his son in 2009 have not exceeded $77. He had been ordered by the court to pay $56 a week child support in 2004.

According to court documents, "The relationship between the parents was strained before the fire accident and the ordeal suffered by the families at the hospital prior to Josh's death only served to increase the conflicts between them."

The mother also testified that her son had limited contact with his biological father after he moved to New York in 2004. The contact was primarily limited to some trips to visit with him that lasted about four to six weeks during the summers of 2007 and 2008.

Phone contact was not regular between Josh and his father, Burris testified.

Burris said she feels like burying her son would be the most appropriate final resting place -- next to his best friend and buddy, Nick, and in the same cemetery where a number of her relatives are buried.

She said that Peter Merritt originally had agreed to the burial and didn't object until a couple days before the funeral.

The sobbing mother said she could not bear to have her son go through a cremation after enduring the 68 days he spent at Riley Children's Hospital before his death.

"My son has already been burned once and had to go through all of that pain and I don't want him to be burned again," she told the court.

Lisa's father, Mike Crays, from Bloomfield, testified that he had spoken to Peter Merritt about funeral and burial plans prior to Josh's death and he appeared to be okay with Lisa's plan to bury his remains.

"He told me at the time that he wasn't going to push the issue," Crays said on the witness stand.

Crays said that Peter Merritt changed his mind after the family had made the funeral arrangements.

He also pointed out that the boy's biological father did not attend the funeral service in Bloomfield.

Peter Merritt, who is a plumber, had a different view of the way things panned out.

He said he was a good father to Josh and contended that some of the alleged non-contact with his son was brought about because the boy's mother "moved around" and he didn't have a telephone number to call his son.

Pointing to Lisa's family sitting on one side of the court room, Peter Merritt said, "Nobody in that corner can call me a bad father."

Peter Merritt, who is represented by Indianapolis attorney Vanessa Lopez, told the court that Josh was "an outside kid" who loved his visits to New York where they fished and boated together.

Spreading his cremated ashes on the river in front of his home would be a fitting final resting place, he said.

His father said family members in New York are planning a 'life party' in honor of Josh and then will conduct an ash spreading service on the water.

"At last I'll know a part of Josh is out there and not be buried in the ground," he told the court. "I think this is kind of like releasing him from the shell that he is in...I need my boy up north with me."

The final witness of the hearing, was Josh's older half-brother, P.J. Merritt, 18, of Bloomfield.

P.J., who said he did not have a close relationship with his biological father, testified that he was very close to his younger half-brother and thinks he knew him pretty well.

When asked where he would think Josh would want to be buried, P.J. said without hesitating, "I think he would prefer to stay in Greene County, because all of his family is here...and I really don't think he'd want to be burned again."