SAN ANTONIO — When a U.S. Navy veteran passed away, loved ones say they were never notified.
Now Karah Thomas' estranged daughter is looking for answers as to why her father is buried in a pauper's grave.
Deanna Zak says she's not fully at peace with her father's death, and feels more should have been done to contact family and give him a proper military burial.
“He's out in just a regular public cemetery with no military honors, no nothing," said Zak.
Zak says Thomas comes from a long line of veterans, including his other four brothers. She says she last saw her father when he was living in San Antonio.
“I saw him last in 2003 and he was very thin, very frail. I begged him to come stay with me and he said, 'No, you shouldn't have to take care of me,'" Zak said.
She says she lost contact with her father and spent years looking for him. Life and major health issues also prevented her from traveling to search for him.
Seeking help, she reached out to the local nonprofit Search & Support San Antonio, which was able to find Thomas was staying at a Salvation Army in an assisted living facility.
“We were able to learn that he had been taken to the hospital in September of 2023, and unfortunately, that's where he passed," said Lori Wittmeyer, case intake manager for Search & Support San Antonio.
Wittmeyer says that when she called the VA's Office of Decedent Affairs earlier this month, a representative told them that Thomas' body was handed over to the county—his name reversed in their system to "Thomas Karah."
Zak and her family were never told when Thomas passed away. He ended up buried in a pauper's grave in Von Ormy.
“I was crushed at that moment because I'm like, 'Wow,' he deserves so much more than that," Zak said. "From what I have found out, they never did a search through the VA, to see if he was eligible to be buried in a VA cemetery."
Zak says she's now working with Bexar County to fix the name on her father's death certificate and see if he's eligible to be given a proper military burial at Fort Sam Houston Cemetery.
But she says she's been told she'd have to pay for his body to be exhumed.
KENS 5 did reach out to Veteran Affairs' who sent a statement. South Texas Veterans Health Care System said the following:
"Our hearts go out to this Veteran’s family, and we are working directly with them to ensure that he is properly honored and memorialized for his service to our country. According to VA records, this Veteran did not pass away at the San Antonio Medical Center or any South Texas VA facility.
Thomas's daughter says the VA has not contacted her as yet, but will wait for them to call.