COPY-Loved one cremated before family could see her for last time

It's a mistake that can never be undone. A family missed their final chance to say goodbye to a loved one.

Now, it's up to a funeral home to make amends.

"Who wouldn't want to see their loved ones, and see they were okay?" said son Ken Carpenter.

Fifty-nine year old Sadie Carpenter died in a Florida hospital last December. Her children wanted to see her one last time, before she was cremated.

"That was the main goal for everyone in the family was to see her and make sure she was okay because we're all here in Chicago, she passed in Orlando," Carpenter said.

Sadie's children paid the Leak and Sons Funeral Home to transport the body back to Chicago. But when Sadie's children showed up with clothing for the body, they suspected something was wrong.

"Me and my brothers kept asking, can we view the body, can we view the body?" Carpenter said.

They were told their mother had already been cremated.

The owners of the funeral home admit that a horrible mistake was made. They say it's the first time in their 82 year history that a body has been cremated by mistake.

Spencer Leak Senior declined to talk on camera, but told FOX 32 by phone that a new employee made the mistake.

"I take full responsibility," he said. "It's hurtful to me and my family."

The family got a full refund, but Carpenter wants more.

"I'm not going to say that he didn't do what he was supposed to do. But his staff, they did a terrible thing," Carpenter added.

Spencer Leak said he's offered up to $25,000 to satisfy the family, but hasn't received their decision.