Colorado Funeral Home Let Remains Pile Up in the Basement for Decades

A Colorado funeral home had been allowing the cremated remains of 175 clients to pile up in the basement for decades, sitting in such creative receptacles as pickle jars, according to a CBS Denver report.

The new proprietors of the funeral home, who received the stockpile of unaddressed remains from the previous owners, are now trying to locate the relatives of several of the remains to see if their final wishes can — belatedly — be fulfilled.

“It’s a black eye to the industry. Nine out of 10 funeral homes do everything by the book, are professional and trustworthy and really care about their clients,” Rose Memorial Parlour owner Matt Boyle told CBS4.

Some of the cremated remains date back to 1947, he said.

CBS4’s Matt Kroschel writes:

Any of the remains that are not claimed, will be buried in a public ceremony at the cemetery later this month.

As for criminal wrongdoing, authorities told CBS4 it would be nearly impossible to find out who was responsible for all of it since there were so many different owners over decades.

[h/t CBS Denver]

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