UPDATE: THE family of Julie Mott, whose body was stolen from a Texas funeral home on what would have been her 26th birthday, is suing the business for gross negligence.

Lawyer Alex Katzman said the Motts were seeking nearly US$1 million in damages from Mission Park Funeral Chapels North after Julie’s body mysteriously vanished right after her funeral on August 15 last year.

Police have so far focused their investigation on Julie’s ex-boyfriend, who has been described as “obsessed” with the beautiful blonde before and after her death from cystic fibrosis, though he has strenuously denied any involvement in the theft of her remains.

The San Antonio funeral company is owned by longtime family friend Robert “Dick” Tips, for whom Julie’s father Tim once worked as a private pilot.

“Mission lost possession of Julie Mott’s body and to this day has been unable to explain how,” the lawsuit states.

“The family has no idea where their daughter’s body is, and they don’t know if there will ever be a final resting place where they can visit and have that sense of connectiveness,” Mr Katzman told the San Antonio Express-News yesterday.

“This is the only case that I know of where they just lost the body, and we haven’t seen any real effort by Mission Park to step up and try and find it.”

Mr Tips has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the return of Julie’s remains. He refused to discuss the latest developments in this horror case with reporters but a statement from his company was released overnight.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t received the lawsuit yet, so we can’t comment on the complaint itself,” the statement said.

“However, at Mission Park, we’ve never believed this theft was an issue of money, it’s always been about finding Julie’s remains and helping the police locate the person who committed this crime.”

DID JULIE MOTT’S ‘OBSESSED’ EX-BOYFRIEND STEAL HER CORPSE?

IT’S the stuff of nightmares.

A beautiful young woman called Julie Mott was bombarded with unwanted calls and text messages for weeks as she lay dying in hospital.

The pest, an ex-boyfriend Julie, 25, dated for six years and hadn’t seen for two, continued his “obsessive” campaign right up until her death from cystic fibrosis — an illness she’d battled since the age of two.

Julie’s service at the Mission Park North Funeral Chapel in San Antonio, Texas, was packed to capacity with family and friends. She was so loved.

The pest was there too. He was annoyed Julie’s dad Tim wouldn’t make eye contact with him but the feeling was replaced with a comfortable smugness when he remembered nobody in the grief-filled room loved her more than he did.

It was Julie’s wish to be cremated and after the service her embalmed body was wheeled away to a viewing suite for those who wanted to see her one last time. The ex-boyfriend did. Staff would later tell police he was the last to leave.

In the morning, employees preparing to transfer her casket to an off-site crematory discovered it empty. The unthinkable had happened: Julie’s body had been stolen.

The date was August 15, 2015, which would have been her 26th birthday. Her corpse hasn’t been seen since.

The search for Julie Mott continues Authorities work to identify the remains found at McAllister Park this weekend, the Mott family continues to hold out hope they will find Julie

‘NEVER SEEN A CASE LIKE THIS IN 22 YEARS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT’

Police believe Julie’s body was taken within a three-hour window between the end of her funeral at 1.30pm and the closing of the funeral home at about 4.30pm.

Staff discovered her empty casket the following morning, a Saturday, as they prepared to transfer her body to an off-site crematory.

The funeral home showed no sign of a break-in and no alarms were set off, leading to initial speculation the theft of her remains was either an inside job or a story invented to hide some monumental screw up. Had staff accidentally lost the body? Cremated her prematurely at someone else’s funeral?

Police said they did not suspect the theft occurred after the funeral home closed. The premises had no surveillance cameras, making it difficult for police to determine whether multiple individuals were involved.

However, investigators indicated they believed this was no malpractice case — it was a body snatching.

“Whoever did it was pretty daring about it,” San Antonio Police Department Sergeant Javier Salazar said at the time.

“This was not a case of somebody thinking they were stealing an empty casket; the body was the clear target.

“Our number one priority, of course, is getting her back to her family. A close second is to find out who the person was who did it and bring them to justice.”

Sgt Salazar added that he had never seen a case like it in his 22 years in law enforcement.

Long-time family friend and funeral homeowner Dick Tips said: “She was removed from here and taken to a visitation suite and would have been moved on (August 17) to be cremated at the crematory, to Mission South.”

Mr Tips offered reward of $US20,000 for information leading to the recovery of Julie’s remains.

Later, an incident report obtained by My San Antonio newspaper would reveal police had identified a potential suspect who was reportedly texting and calling Julie “obsessively” before her death. The name of the man, aged in his 20s, had been blacked out before reporters viewed the document and subsequent media articles would refer to him only as “SP1”.

But in October, “SP1” started posting a series of bizarre messages to a forum frequented by Julie, My Death Space. She’d been a fan of the site for years; it was a place in which she could use her dark sense of humour to cope with her illness without being judged.

The first post by user Heartbroken1 began by identifying himself as the “obsessed man” spoken of by police and spoke at length of his feelings for Julie and the history of their relationship.

He described the funeral in detail, the snub by her family, his annoyance at a conversation between Julie’s mother and Dick Tips about flowers (he believed it was frivolous and inappropriate timing). Yes, he was the last person to view Julie’s body but no, he didn’t take her, he wrote.

Once other forum users established he was genuine, they were generous with their sympathy. Encouraged, Heartbroken1 continued to share, then overshare. His posts got weirder and more rambling, until other users grew suspicious. Stuff did not add up. It got creepy. Maybe this guy really did take Julie, others wondered out loud. The more they challenged his story, the more he blabbed and the deeper the hole he dug. He eventually revealed his real name, as will we. But more on that later.

‘WHOEVER TOOK HER COULDN’T HAVE LOVED HER MORE THAN I DO’

In late August, Julie’s parents made a direct appeal to the perpetrator, whom they and police described as “someone they believe they know”.

“We ask that you please, please return our Julie to us,’ Sharlotte Mott said through tears.

“I was her caregiver, the one who drove her to her doctor’s visits, stayed with her throughout her many hospital stays and, in her later years, her best friend. Without a doubt, she loved me as much as I loved her. This selfish person who took her could not have loved her any more than I do.

“I did everything in my power to fulfil her wishes. The fact that cannot fulfil her final wishes (of being cremated) is unbearable. It is breaking my heart each and every day.

Tim Mott said he was furious his daughter could not be laid to rest and said the person who stole her was twisted, mentally ill.

“What else could it be,” he told reporters. “The person’s got to be sick.”

Heartbroken1 acknowledged in several posts on My Death Space that police had raided his home and the home of his parents but had found nothing. Investigators appeared to act on allusions made by Heartbroken1 in the forum to places that were special to he and Julie, searching forest trails and lookouts.

Heartbroken1 started posting malicious stories about Julie’s family, alleging they had virtually cut he and Julie off when they shared an apartment for several years, even as her condition deteriorated.

The stories appeared to be aimed at disproving Julie’s mother’s statement that he “could not have loved her more than she did”.

He claimed the struggle to cope with her illness led him to self-medicate. He told the My Death Space forum the lack of support from Julie’s family led him to develop a nasty Adderall and alcohol habit. They eventually split up and she moved back home two years before she died.

He also shared a number of conversations played out on Julie’s Facebook page between her brother Jon Mott and himself, in which he claimed to have hired private investigators to find out who had taken Julie. From the start, he pointed the finger at funeral staff and mentioned a detail not released by police — that her casket appeared to have been “tampered” with.

HEARTBROKEN1 OUTS HIMSELF AS BILL WILBURN, JULIE’S EX

When Julie’s brother Jon discovered the thread on his sister on My Death Space, he all but accused Heartbroken1 of stealing her body. In response, Heartbroken1 outed himself as Julie’s ex-boyfriend of six years, Bill Wilburn, by inviting users to “stalk me for 24 hours” and take a look at his photographic tribute to Julie on his Facebook page (which was deleted after news.com.au approached him for comment but reactivated less than 24 hours later).

Posting as user Heartbroken.my.ass, Jon Mott wrote: “Greetings all. I’m Julie’s brother. My family and I have been monitoring this site for a little while now. I just wanted to come on here because I know this is one of Bill’s outlets and no doubt will be reading this.

“Bill, Stop being such a chicken s*** and take the polygraph that you originally agreed to take on 8/16. It’s been three months. Your constant flip-flopping of ‘I’ll take the polygraph’ to ‘No, my mom doesn’t want me to take it’ is getting on everyone’s last nerves. And now you want us to believe that you’ll take it but have a local news station do it opposed to SAID? Enough of your bulls*** lies.

“Everyone knows you didn’t hire private investigators. I mean, come on. Why would you hire private detectives in Austin when the crime occurred in San Antonio? Doesn’t make sense. Just take the polygraph with SAID. If you pass, they can move on from you as the suspect. Hell, you said yourself, it’s inadmissible (sic) in court. What do you have to lose?”

Bill Wilburn, posting as Heartbroken1, again denied Mott’s accusations, claiming he did not believe anyone stole Julie’s body but that she had been misplaced by the funeral home or cremated prematurely. But Mott persisted, claiming his family had asked Mr Tips to “watch him at the funeral in case he stole something. Oh the f******* irony of that!”

“Bill … I can remember saying she looked beautiful and I remember pointing out to you that the crease in her elbow was still soft,” Jon Mott replied to Wilburn in the above My Death Space post.

“I remember you hugging me and telling me that you loved me like a brother. I remember thinking “man, I’m glad I’ll never have to see this guy again”.

“I remember thinking it was weird that you stayed back to be the last person to say goodbye to Julie. I thought that was disrespectful to the family. I thought it was extremely disrespectful that when I got up to speak, you left your seat in the back of the chapel, walked up the center (sic) isle, and sat where I was seated. Next to my wife and my parents. Like you were a part of the family. I’ve got big news for you, bud, you’re not a part of our family. I remember as we were walking out, my dad telling the funeral director to watch you because you might steal something. “Oh the f****** irony on that one! So remind me what did I say that was so creepy?

“Let’s talk about flowers. The reason why I’m not going to ask Dick why they didn’t discover Julie’s body missing until after we picked flowers up on Sunday, is because I f****** know why. I just not going to help you develop your timeline.

“Disrespecting my sister? How? By trying to find out who stole her?

“The reason you won’t take the polygraph is because you know you’re going to fail it. And be exposed as the sick f***** you are. The sick f***** who drives by the house asking for Julie to peek out the window just so you can see her, which she never did. The sick f***** who comes over in the middle of the night and finds Julie (sic) truck unlocked. How long did you sit in the truck, Bill? I believe Julie said two hours.

“Why don’t you tell the nice people what you took as a keepsake? Was it a brush? Or was it a headband? I honestly can’t remember.

“Now to your ‘after the funeral’ story. I’m not going to give you the details, but I know at least one stop you made that you’ve never brought up. Was it good seeing her?”

Bill Wilburn was approached for comment by news.com.au last night but did not reply and by this morning had deleted his Facebook page.

Meanwhile, he continues to declare his love for Julie online and protest his innocence. Police have confirmed several raids have been carried out on Wilburn’s home and premises belonging to his relatives but that nothing has been found.

No arrests have been made and Julie’s body remains missing.