The Mortician begins in the early 1980s when David Sconce takes over the Lamb Funeral Home, a family-owned mortuary business in Pasadena, California. Sconce, the scion of the Lamb family, immediately begins to expand the business aggressively, driven by profit motives. He implements a series of macabre and unethical practices to increase earnings, including mass cremations where dozens of bodies are shoved into a single crematory chamber, often by breaking bones or cutting off limbs to fit more bodies. This practice results in the mixing of ashes, which deeply traumatizes the families of the deceased when discovered.

As the business grows, Sconce and his team begin to steal valuables from the bodies, including gold teeth extracted by pulling teeth from corpses. They also harvest organs and body parts to sell on the black market. These actions are done without regard for the dignity of the deceased or the feelings of their families. Sconce openly admits in interviews that he does not value the dead and sees their bodies as mere shells, comparable to digging something out of the ground.

During this period, allegations of abuse and unethical behavior mount. Former employees reveal terrifying accounts of what they witnessed while working for Sconce, including the mishandling of remains and the theft of valuables. Customers recount the trauma of receiving incorrect remains due to the mass cremations and the mixing of ashes.

Sconce's criminal activities escalate beyond the mortuary abuses. He is investigated for allegedly contracting a hit on a rival and poisoning another competitor who was attempting to expose the crimes at the Lamb Funeral Home. These violent acts demonstrate the extent to which Sconce is willing to go to protect his business and conceal his wrongdoing.

Eventually, law enforcement intervenes, and Sconce is arrested. He pleads guilty to 21 criminal counts, including mutilating corpses, conducting mass cremations, and hiring hit men. In 1989, he is sentenced to five years in prison. However, he serves only two and a half years before being released in 1991. Later, in 2013, he is sentenced to 25 years to life after violating probation but is released on parole in 2023.

The documentary features exclusive interviews with Sconce, who speaks with animated energy and candor about his crimes, sometimes bragging about his ability to cram as many bodies as possible into the crematory. He appears more aggrieved than remorseful, maintaining a worldview that devalues both the dead and the living. The series also includes emotional interviews with families of victims and former employees, shedding light on the human cost of Sconce's actions and the broader implications for the mortuary industry.

Following the convictions of Sconce and other members of the Lamb family, the funeral industry responds by implementing tighter regulations and increasing transparency to prevent similar abuses. The scandal shakes Southern California and serves as a cautionary tale about the potential for exploitation behind closed doors in the business of death.

The ending of the 2025 HBO documentary series The Mortician reveals a shocking moment where David Sconce, the son running the Lamb Funeral Home, appears on the verge of confessing a deeply disturbing secret off-camera. The director, Joshua Rofé, recounts how Sconce tries to get him to promise secrecy about this information, but Rofé refuses, insisting his role is to expose the truth. This moment leaves the crew stunned and marks a dramatic conclusion to the series, underscoring the ongoing darkness behind the funeral home's crimes.

In the final episode of The Mortician, the narrative unfolds with David Sconce, who has been the central figure throughout the series, sitting for an interview with director Joshua Rofé. The scene is tense and charged with anticipation. As Sconce speaks, he suddenly hints at revealing something significant, something he wants to share off-camera. The camera operator interrupts, telling them to pause the interview. Sconce then asks Rofé to promise not to disclose what he is about to say, implying it is a secret of grave importance.

Rofé, caught in the moment, refuses to agree to keep such a secret, stating that his job is to tell the truth, not to hide it. This refusal visibly unsettles Sconce, who seems to realize that his attempt to implicate the filmmaker in silence has failed. The crew exchanges shocked glances, understanding the gravity of what just transpired. This exchange is the climax of the series, revealing the depth of Sconce's manipulative nature and the extent of the funeral home's dark secrets.

Prior to this moment, the series has detailed the horrific abuses at the Lamb Funeral Home, where Sconce and his family exploited grieving families and the deceased for profit. The documentary recounts how Sconce mutilated corpses, conducted mass cremations, harvested organs and body parts, extracted gold from teeth, and even hired hitmen to eliminate rivals. He was convicted on 21 criminal counts and sentenced to prison, serving time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then again after violating probation, before being released on parole in 2023.

The final scenes also include interviews with victims and journalists who investigated the case, providing a broader context to the crimes and their impact. Sconce himself appears in these interviews, alternating between denial and boastfulness about his actions, showing little remorse. The series closes on the unresolved tension of Sconce's off-camera secret, leaving viewers with a chilling reminder of the ongoing consequences of the Lamb Funeral Home's betrayal of public trust.

Regarding the fate of the main characters at the end:

• David Sconce remains free on parole as of 2023 but is portrayed as unrepentant and manipulative, still holding dark secrets.
• Joshua Rofé, the director, maintains his role as a truth-teller, refusing to be complicit in hiding Sconce's confessions.
• The victims and journalists continue to live with the aftermath of the crimes, their stories serving as testimony to the abuses uncovered.

This ending scene is pivotal, emphasizing the documentary's themes of truth, secrecy, and the moral responsibility of exposing wrongdoing, while leaving some questions hauntingly unanswered.

Yes, characters do die in the 2025 TV documentary series The Mortician, but these deaths are real-life cases rather than fictional characters, as the series is a documentary about a funeral home and its criminal activities.

The central figure, David Sconce, operated the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena during the 1980s and was convicted for multiple crimes involving the dead, including mutilating corpses, mass cremations, and even suspected murders. The series reveals that Sconce exploited the deceased by mass cremating bodies--shoving dozens into cremators at once--and stealing valuables like gold teeth and organs for black market sale. This caused trauma to families who discovered their loved ones' remains were not treated with respect.

Regarding deaths, the documentary implies that Sconce may have committed actual murders. In the final episode, Sconce cryptically alludes to having been involved in killings, reflecting on a time he feared for his life after being held at gunpoint in a cemetery. He hints at more violent acts but refuses to disclose details on camera. The series does not provide a full list of victims or detailed circumstances of each death but strongly suggests that some deaths were homicides connected to Sconce's criminal activities.

In summary:

• Victims: Multiple deceased individuals whose bodies were mishandled, and possibly some who were murdered by David Sconce.
• Circumstances: Deaths range from natural or unknown causes (as the funeral home handled many bodies) to suspected murders linked to Sconce's criminal behavior.
• Why/How: Murders were likely motivated by Sconce's criminal enterprise, including eliminating threats or rivals, though specifics are not fully disclosed in the series.
• When: Primarily during the 1980s when Sconce ran the Lamb Funeral Home.

The documentary focuses more on the exploitation and disrespect of the dead rather than dramatizing individual deaths, but it does confirm that deaths occurred under suspicious and criminal circumstances related to Sconce's actions.

The TV show The Mortician produced in 2025 does not have any publicly documented post-credit scene. None of the available search results or sources mention a post-credit scene for this show, and no detailed descriptions or spoilers about such a scene exist. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that The Mortician does not feature a post-credit scene.

David Sconce engaged in numerous macabre and inhumane practices including mutilating corpses, holding mass cremations, harvesting organs and body parts for profit, pulling teeth to extract gold fillings, and stuffing as many bodies as possible into crematory chambers sometimes by breaking bones or cutting off limbs.

David Sconce pleaded guilty to 21 criminal counts including mutilating corpses, holding mass cremations, and hiring hitmen to target rival morticians. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 1989, served two and a half years, then later sentenced to 25 years to life in 2013 for violating probation, and was released on parole in 2023.

The series features interviews with families of the victims of the Lamb Funeral Home, former employees, journalists Ashley Dunn and David Geary, and other individuals such as Barbara Hunt, Jolena Grande, Jay Brown, and Elie Estephan.

The scandal involving David Sconce and the Lamb Funeral Home led to tighter regulations and greater transparency in the funeral industry, as the case exposed widespread abuses and unethical practices behind closed doors.

David Sconce provides insight into his crimes by alternately denying and bragging about his transgressions. He appears proud of his ability to maximize profits through unethical means, showing more aggrieved than remorseful behavior during his interviews at age 68.

The 2025 documentary series The Mortician is rated TV-MA and is not family friendly. It contains graphic and potentially upsetting content related to the funeral home industry, including morally questionable and inhumane practices such as mutilation of corpses, mass cremations, organ harvesting allegations, and criminal activities like fraud and violence. The series features interviews with perpetrators, victims, and journalists, and depicts disturbing real-life events behind a family-run mortuary's exploitation of deceased individuals and their families. Sensitive viewers and children may find the subject matter distressing due to its focus on death, crime, and unethical treatment of bodies.

Potentially objectionable or upsetting aspects include:

• Detailed discussion and depiction of corpse mutilation and mass cremations.
• Allegations and implications of organ harvesting.
• Coverage of criminal acts such as fraud, hiring hitmen, and murder.
• Emotional interviews with victims' families and former employees.
• Graphic descriptions of unethical and inhumane mortuary practices.

Because it is a documentary about real crimes and abuses in a mortuary setting, it is intended for mature audiences and not suitable for children or those sensitive to graphic or disturbing content.