Ex-funeral home director dies days before trial

CROWN POINT — A former funeral home director who was accused of abandoning bodies has died just days before his criminal trial was scheduled to begin.

The Cook County, Ill., medical examiner’s office told The Times of Munster that 45-year-old Darryl Cammack was pronounced dead Thursday morning at his home in Chicago. Officials say he died of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Cammack owned the defunct Serenity Gardens Funeral Home in Gary, where the decomposing bodies were found in May 2009. He was charged with two counts of felony theft and a misdemeanor count of failing to timely dispose of human remains. He had pleaded not guilty.

His trial had been scheduled to begin Monday in Lake County Criminal Court.