Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Colorado woman sentenced to 20 years for stealing, selling body parts It was kind of creepy.. The Green Funeral. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. In addition, a lawsuit has been filed by Shirley Hollenback and her daughter alleging that the remains she received purported to be the cremation ashes of her husband are somebody elses remains and not those of her husband. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com Both Reh and Cavanagh said they want to get the ashes analyzed at the University of Colorado to see if they actually belong to their babies. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our. The owners of that funeral home are facing charges of desecrating human remains more than four months after investigators found the body, which had been stored in a non-refrigerated room for years. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. On March 16, the director of the Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration sent Kent a letter of admonition after a state investigator found unembalmed, unrefrigerated bodily remains in his Gypsum funeral home more than 24 hours from the date of death. Propel Funeral Partners makes acquisitions. Chantal Reh. In 2018, Schum got a call from FBI Special Agent John Busch, who told her that Sunset Mesa had sold not just her friend's body, but many others. MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. In Colorado and most other states, it also is legal for funeral homes to sell items recovered from dead bodies, such as gold dental work. Feb 4, 2023, 5:26 PM SGT. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. Hancock is one of many family members who has learned the cremains she was given by the owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose contained items and materials that were not her husband. Other charges against Hess will . Mabry said Koch told him the glass eye couldnt be removed after Dunlaps head was severed, embalmed and shipped to researchers. In February 2018, Lina Cavanagh lost her baby at an advanced stage of pregnancy a loss that took its toll on her, both physically and emotionally. Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . 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Nursing Home Under Investigation After Woman Declared Dead Found Breathing at Funeral Home The incident happened at the Water's Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson, the. Some former staff members of Sunset Mesa said they never heard Hess disclose to donors that the bodies would be sold for profit. Jacque Hampson spent a year working as Hesss personal assistant. Downard Funeral Home Under Investigation, ISU Involved There are many events that have unfolded over the past couple weeks involving Downard Funeral Home, some including Idaho State University (ISU). Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. A price quote Hess sent to an Arizona medical training lab in 2016 offered torsos for $1,000 each. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. On at least three occasions, Staci Kent allegedly responded to calls from law enforcement requesting a coroner at a death scene, according to the indictment. Colorado regulators can now inspect funeral homes and crematories without owners' permission The state has long had some of the laxest laws in the nation surrounding funeral homes Joe. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. It is illegal in the United States to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant; they must be donated. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. She says Shirley Koch came to pick up his body. According to Jeffersonville Police Major Isaac Parker, the department began its investigation of the Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center in Jeffersonville on Friday. In cases like Schum's, where a family did agree to donate a body part, Hess sold more than she had permission to. In one instance, on March 10, 2019, Staci Kent was significantly delayed to the scene because the van she was using to pick up the body had a dead battery, bald tires and was buried in snow, prosecutors alleged. Koch told the judge she was sorry and took responsibility for her actions. According to High Country News, Hess was running the funeral home in conjunction with a non-profit called Donor Services Inc., through which she sold "donated" body parts to companies a practice referred to as body brokering. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. After a reporter asked questions about the websiteand her background, Hess removed the Add to Cart donation pages from her cremation website and cut the mention of the mortuary science degree from her online biography. On dozens of occasions, Hess and Koch transferred bodies or body parts to third parties for research without families knowledge, according to the U.S. Justice Department. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. Colo. funeral home accused of doubling as body parts broker - KMGH The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. Im not interested. Kent operates six funeral homes in the states high country, which also include Buena Vista, Fairplay, Idaho Springs, and Silverthorne. PUBLISHED 8:21 PM CT Apr. I saw a lot inside as far as, you know, body parts and things like that. She continued, But I was oblivious to what was going on. There are people and businesses who spend millions and millions of dollars," Teselle added, "trafficking in these body parts as if they were nothing more than cans of soup or loaves of bread., I was pretty shocked, said Jacque Hampson, a former employee of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. That individual, referred to in the order only as E.W., received no notice that the cremation would be done at the Gypsum funeral home, one of six locations Kent operates in Colorados high country. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Jan 3 (Reuters) - A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission. A price list uncovered during an ongoing lawsuit against an Arizona body broker provides insight into the value of body parts and the profits that can be produced. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. FBI Raids Montrose Funeral Home Accused Of Donating - CBS News The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. On March 17, the unsealed indictment revealed that this donor services business would harvest the human remains and then sell them, illegally and without the families' knowledge. In mid-November, she wrote an email to a surgical training company saying that she could supply a human torso, according to messages reviewed by Reuters. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. Charles "Paul" Lynch Obituary (1953 - 2023) | Yuma, Colorado Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. On July 2, Jeffersonville Police officials announced dozens of bodies were found decomposing inside a funeral home in the Southern Indiana city, just across the river from Louisville. The funeral home's owners, Megan Hess, 43, and her mother . Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . Colorado Funeral Home Owners Charged With Brokering Body Parts Colorado funeral home operators sentenced for selling body parts 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. Holloman now deals with the guilt of knowing details of what happened to her moms body. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. The allegations of offering free services and then selling body parts without the knowledge of the client family is beyond my scope of thinking as to what funeral directors should be doing. I thought it was something that needs to be corrected," said state Senator Larry Crowder, one of the bills sponsors. NBC10 . Colorado funeral home owners sentenced to federal prison for selling "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. Hess made donating a body online easy. POCATELLO, Idaho Police in Pocatello are investigating a local funeral home after they said a state health inspector contacted them about the business and a badly decomposed body was found. POCATELLO, Idaho A Pocatello funeral home under investigation by the Idaho Board of Morticians has had its licenses revoked. . Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. The FBI started looking into Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services a few months after it was discovered that both businesses were being operated out of the same building and by the same owner, according to thereport. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. I go to sleep with the visions of him being dismembered with a power saw, said Ruthie Pettyjohn, whose sons body parts were allegedly sold. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. The scope of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home and Donor Services remains unclear at this time while investigators are trying to get a handle on that issue. (If they've been left standing. The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . There are no ethics there when you do that. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. Funeral homes are required to register with the state, but spokesman Rasizer said the regulatory affairs department is not authorized to inspect mortuaries. In Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. Sunset Mesa, like all other funeral homes in Colorado, is required by state law to have a death certificate filed with the vital records office before obtaining a disposition permit. In February 2018, Lina Cavanagh lost her baby at an advanced stage of pregnancy a loss that took its toll on her, both physically and emotionally. Leaking body bags, unrefrigerated remains: Colorado funeral homes under The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state our community can better understand itself. Montrose funeral home owner who allegedly sold - The Colorado Sun Funeral home remains under federal investigation A woman is among more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, after finding out her husband's body parts had been sold without her consent.
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