Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Rotting bodies, some of them up to 15 years old, were found behind a fake door at a US funeral home run by a county coroner, official documents said. Inspectors who arrived at the Davis Mortuary in Colorado for a regular annual inspection on Wednesday noticed “a strong odor of decomposition,” said documents published by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. Officials also noticed a door at the premises in Pueblo, near Colorado Springs, that was hidden by a cardboard display.
The funeral home’s operator, Brian Cotter — who also serves as Pueblo County coroner — asked the inspectors not to go into the room. When they did, they found “several bodies in various states of decomposition,” documents said. “Mr Cotter stated that the bodies were awaiting cremation and admitted that some bodies had been in the room for approximately 15 years. Mr Cotter admitted to inspectors that he may have issued next-of-kin fake cremains.” Inspectors ordered the mortuary to stop doing business at once.
According to the Pueblo County website, Cotter has served as the county’s coroner since 2014. The site said he has “over 25 years of death care experience as a local mortician, a state death investigator, and a diplomat for the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.” Cotter did not immediately respond to messages from AFP.
Colorado is no stranger to rogue funeral directors. Last year, the cremated remains of dozens of people were found in a house as it was being cleaned following the eviction of its former occupant, a one-time funeral director. A hearse discovered on the premises contained the body of a woman who had died 18 months earlier.
In 2023, nearly 200 decomposing bodies were found in a decrepit funeral home after neighbors complained of a foul smell at the property near Colorado Springs. And in 2018, the FBI found that directors of one establishment were selling body parts around the world and giving grieving families cement mix instead of cremains. The Denver Post has reported that Colorado is the only state in the US in which funeral home directors do not need a license, and homes themselves are only lightly regulated.
© 2024 AFP
