Lucas County Probate Judge Jack Puffenberger has granted Kei’mani Latigue’s custodial grandmother’s application to handle the girl’s funeral arrangements, including cremation of her body.
After a hearing at which the girl’s mother, Tiara Kasten, participated by Zoom, the judge on Tuesday granted without comment Dorothy Latigue’s application dated Friday for right of disposition, according to court documents.
“I would like to properly hold a funeral and cremate her remains without it becoming a circus for the family,” the grandmother wrote in the application.
While not involved in her daughter’s life for “approximately two through five years,” Ms. Latigue wrote, Ms. Kasten now was claiming Kei’mani’s body and making a spectacle “out of the tragic situation.”
Judge Puffenberger said later Tuesday that the case was a first for him.
While cases occasionally arise in which someone wishes to disinter a body and bury it somewhere else, he said, “I don’t recall having one before regarding the right to bury someone before they’ve been buried the first time.”
First Published April 8, 2025, 9:19 p.m.
