SAN ANTONIO – It's a mystery turned blame game.
"Really, the end goal is to have her body back," said Robert D. Tips, CEO of the Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemeteries.
He’s the man one family is pointing the finger at after a body goes missing, and he’s now speaking out.
"There's no question the body was stolen, and one day you'll see the truth and we'll all understand the truth," said Tips.
The body in question is that of Julie Mott. Mott died when she was 25 in August 2015 from cystic fibrosis.
Shortly after her funeral, her body disappeared from a Mission Park funeral home.
On Tuesday, a jury awarded Mott's family $8 million in a civil suit saying Mission Park was negligent in losing Mott’s body.
Tips said he isn't surprised by the verdict.
RELATED | Jury awards family of Julie Mott $8M in missing body case
"They can't make a complete decision without having all the facts, and they don't have anywhere near all the facts. They're missing about 80 percent," he said.
Tips said he can't talk about all the facts right now because of a police investigation. However, he initially accused Mott's boyfriend, Bill Wilburn, of stealing her body.
“It’s a lot less far-fetched than somebody just going into a building and stealing a body without anybody noticing. I mean why any of the employees didn't notice when they left that day?” said Bill Wilburn.
Wilburn is saying that the funeral home messed.
"I find it fascinating that he's going to the media. It kind of shows a different type of person. I mean for him to be able to go and talk about things after he pled the fifth," said Tips.
Tips said he’s appealing the court’s decision, and said that in end he truly believes the truth will come out.
After publication, attorney Mark Louis Greenwald sent a statement on behalf of the Mott family:
Mission Park had Rick Reyna, a top trial lawyer, and 11 other lawyers defending them at trial, including Wallace Jefferson, former Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. I estimate Mission Park spent over a $1 million on the defense. The trial judge Norma Gonzales is a 33-year lawyer who was fair and even handed in this trial. The jury heard all the evidence that was competent and admissible.
In the end, in less than two and a half hours of deliberation, they found Mission Park responsible for Julie Mott's body going missing, and socked them with an $8 million verdict. I was shocked at the speed and size of the verdict.
Clearly, despite the massive defense effort, the jury did not believe Mission Park or the Tips explanation. That is a fact. That fact is not spin. The jury's verdict is the truth as defined by the laws of the United States and the state of Texas. My opinion, the Tips opinion, is not relevant in any way to the jury's finding of the truth.