Lawsuit filed over cleaning worker who died in department store bathroom, body not found for days

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The family of a cleaning worker whose body remained in a locked bathroom at a Belk department store for days after she died is suing the chain. The lawsuit filed Tuesday says relatives of 63-year-old Bessie Durham couldn’t hold an open casket funeral because her body was so decomposed in the four days it remained in a bathroom at a Belk store in Columbia, South Carolina. The lawsuit says Durham did cleaning work with a contractor for the store and died from a cardiac problem shortly after entering the  bathroom in September 2022. Belk didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on the suit. It had issued a statement of condolences after her death.