Chris Hart, the attorney for the family, tells Inside Edition Digital that they hope to use any money they receive in this lawsuit to establish a scholarship for low-income girls to attend trade school.
The family of a South Carolina woman whose body went unnoticed by department store staff for four days after she passed away on the job is suing her employer.
Bessie Durham worked as an independent contractor to provide cleaning services to Belk, a department store in Columbia, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband, Franklin, that is seeking punitive damages from Belk.
The lawsuit says that Bessie had been cleaning the store on Sept. 15, 2022, when she "died while inside Belk's restroom."
The Lexington County Coroner's Office determined Bessie died of natural causes and stated in their report that her body appeared to have been decomposing for four days inside the bathroom.
It was not until Sept. 19 that staff reviewed security footage and realized that Durham had entered but never left the bathroom four days prior, says the lawsuit.
By that time, Bessie's body "experienced severe skin slippage, blisters, leathering of the fingertips and severe facial swelling," says the lawsuit. In addition, "a large amount of purge and body fluids had pooled from the body onto Belk's restroom floor."
The lawsuit says that the family "was not permitted to identify Bessie's body," and that the "stench of the decomposing body" meant that the family could not "prepare a proper funeral and burial."
Bessie's family spoke about their loss after filing their lawsuit.
"We couldn’t even view the body, we didn't have any last moments, we couldn't see her smile, we couldn't see how beautiful she was," said her oldest daughter Sheneki Jeter.
"She was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, and wife. We’re all just wanting ownership to be taken," said Bessie's daughter Sylvia Smith
Chris Hart, the attorney for the family, tells Inside Edition Digital that they hope to use any money they receive in this lawsuit to establish a scholarship for low-income girls to attend trade school.
Belk did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
