The Mortician: HBO Exposes Dark Secrets at Pasadena Funeral Home

HBO's three-part documentary series The Mortician, directed and produced by Joshua Rofé, premiered June 1, 2025, uncovering one of America's most disturbing criminal operations hidden behind the respectable facade of a family-run mortuary. The series has become HBO's most-watched documentary in over five years, drawing 0.166 million viewers in its opening week and maintaining strong momentum through its three-episode run ending June 15.

The documentary centers on Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California, a business that traces its roots to the funeral home's original founder. What began as a legitimate family enterprise descended into criminality in the early 1980s when David Sconce, son of owners Jerry W. Sconce and Laurieanne Lamb Sconce and great-grandson of the funeral home's founder, took control of operations. A former high school quarterback, Sconce transformed the business into a criminal enterprise that shocked even seasoned investigators.

According to the series, the Hesperia crematorium operated by Sconce ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Neighbors soon noticed an alarming pattern: excessive smoke billowing continuously from the facility. Fellow morticians in the area grew suspicious of the unusually high volume of cremations being reported. These red flags would eventually lead to investigations that revealed a shocking operation involving the mass cremation of human remains, the harvesting of organs without consent, the theft of valuables from corpses—including gold teeth—and the operation of illegal crematorium facilities.

What made the case even more sinister were allegations that Sconce had orchestrated murder plots. According to court documents and investigative reporting featured in the documentary, Sconce allegedly hired hitmen and conspired to poison business rivals, actions that extended his criminal enterprise far beyond the walls of the funeral home.