5 On Your Side investigates: Woman says money meant for funeral was stolen

Melissa Rachels, a former funeral home director charged in 2021 with embezzling money meant for people's funerals, is facing new accusations.

5 On Your Side spoke to a woman who says she just discovered money she paid in 2018 for funeral services is missing.

"I thought, you know, of all places to steal money, a funeral home," she told 5 On Your Side.

The woman says in 2018, she went to Williford Funeral Home in Fuquay-Varina. Both she and her husband purchased preneed contracts for their future cremation services.

Funerals are expensive, and some people choose to prepay for their own services so that it's not a burden on their family later. These are called preneed funeral contracts.

The woman has receipts showing Melissa Rachels sold her approximately $4,000 in preneed services in 2018.

"She [Rachels] gave me all the paperwork, gave me a receipt for my check and all and that was the end of it. I thought that was the end of it," the woman told 5 On Your Side.
A few months later, Rachels took over the funeral home and changed the name to Rachels Family Funeral Home. Then in 2021, the funeral home closed. But the woman who purchased her preneed contract from Rachels wasn't worried.

When someone signs a contract for preneed funeral services, the funeral home is required to register the contract with the NC Board of Funeral Services.

"After she went out of business, I still didn't worry about it because I thought it was where it needed to be and I knew any funeral home could get it," the woman said about the preneed funds.

But she wanted to double-check, so she asked Tim Batten of Thomas Funeral Home for help.

"The first thing Tim said to me when I showed him all my paperwork was 'where's the letter from the state?' I said I don't have one. He said 'she took your money.'" the woman told us.

"When I find out its not registered, that's a red flag of embezzlement," Batten told 5 On Your Side.

Our team started digging into Rachels' past and found she trained as a funeral home director at Williford Funeral Home under Alvis Williford. He was the director at Williford Funeral Home until 2018. That's when the

North Carolina Board of Funeral Service found that he falsely filed death certificates in order to claim approximately $15,000 in preneed funeral funds.

Williford's licenses were revoked by the Funeral Board. Rachels took over the business and renamed it Rachels Family Funeral Home.

But she would run into her own issues.

In 2021, she was charged by Fuquay-Varina Police for six counts of embezzling preneed funds and the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service also revoked her Funeral Director License.

The North Carolina Board of Funeral Service has a recovery fund to help people who have lost money to preneed embezzlement. The Board says the fund has paid out nearly $56,000 to victims in 7 other cases connected to Melissa Rachels.

During the interview with 5 On Your Side, Batten said he believes there are more victims out there.

"More than likely," Batten said.

Our team wanted to ask that question to Rachels so we called and checked addresses we found for her but we were not able to reach her.

Rachels pleaded guilty to the the six embezzlement charges and took a deal that included probation and paying restitution. The case against her was closed, but Fuquay-Varina Police have reopened it to investigate our viewer's case and detectives want to know if there are other victims too.

5 On Your Side asked North Carolina Board of Funeral Service Director Stephen Davis what people need to know when they sign a contract for preneed funeral services.

"Consumers have the option to pay for funeral goods and services at the time death by making arrangements for a funeral or memorial service with a licensed funeral home of their choice. Those wishing to fund a funeral or memorial service prior to death may do so working with a preneed sales representative from a licensed funeral home. The representative must hold both a preneed sales license and a license either in funeral directing or funeral service. A preneed sales contract may be funded either by an insurance policy or by a trust account at a bank or similar financial institution. Preneed contracts may be inflation-proof, which a preneed sales licensee can explain. Once a consumer has signed a contract for preneed funeral services, the funeral home is required to register the contract with the NC Board of Funeral Service. Within 30 days of registration, the Board will send the contract purchaser a letter confirming the contract's registration with the Board," Davis told us in an email.