colorado funeral home under investigation colorado funeral home under investigation

Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Investigators discovered 31 dead bodies, some of which were in advanced stages of decomposition. . In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Lake County coroner Shannon Kent owns both the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville about 100 miles southeast of Denver and the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum about 133 miles west of the Mile High City, The Denver Post reported Friday. 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. Like many, Hanson found out about her son Frederick during a phone call from an FBI agent. The states Department of Regulatory Agencies said it has nine open complaints about Sunset Mesa higher than average for funeral homes in the state, said spokesman Lee Rasizer. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. Thousands more patients could benefit from life saving and healing eye and tissue donations.. 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. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). On Oct. 2, the Lake and Eagle county sheriffs departments executed a search warrant at the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville, where deputies encountered a strong odor of decomposition, according to an Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by the states Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration, before finding: In addition to the Leadville funeral home, the state issued suspension orders for the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum. Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. It was kind of creepy.. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Market data provided by Factset. You are looking at how to make money.. After Mabry threatened to sue Hess for losing the eye, he said Hess wrote him a check: $500, a refund of the money Dunlap had paid to donate plus $5. Hes already facing charges of official misconduct and perjury stemming from allegations last year that he sent his wife Staci to multiple death scenes even though she wasnt authorized to serve as a deputy coroner. The federal inquiry began several months ago, shortly after Reuters interviewed a half-dozen workers who formerly worked for Hess. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. The confrontation escalated when Shannon Kent allegedly called Lake County Sheriff Amy Reyes and threatened her with arrest for questioning his wifes decision not to use the body bag, prosecutors said. Two funeral homes owned by Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent are under investigation after law enforcement earlier this month found an unrefrigerated body, an abandoned stillborn infant, bags of unl 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. The friend would then place the glass eye in an urn containing half of Dunlaps ashes and bury the urn atop the grave of Dunlaps father in Telluride, Colorado. Jacque Hampson spent a year working as Hesss personal assistant. Forty-fifth President and leading 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has been exonerated of false claims from the radical left and the Biden administration that Trump was responsible for the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, due to a rollback. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack When Reuters reported earlier this year about the unusual twin businesses of owner Megan Hess, federal agents raided the facility and state regulators ordered the funeral home to be shut down. Other staff members also said that it was never disclosed to donor families that the corpses would be sold for profit a potentially illegal practice. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. It only investigates a funeral home if a complaint is filed, he said. (If they've been left standing. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. MONTROSE, Colorado The Federal Bureau of Investigation is interviewing former employees of a funeral home whose owner runs a side business on the same premises selling human body parts. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Before referring questions to a lawyer, Hess spoke extensively with Reuters about her body broker company. "Hess and Koch used their funeral home at times to essentially steal bodies and body parts using fraudulent and forged donor forms," prosecutor Tim Neff said in a court filing. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Funeral homes in Leadville and Gypsum are under criminal investigation after authorities this month found an unrefrigerated body, bags of unlabeled cremains, an abandoned stillborn infant and at least one instance in which a family received cremains for their stillborn child mixed with bits of adult body parts and metal fragments. Weeks passed before Hess told him that Donor Services couldnt retrieve the glass eye because the company couldnt locate the researcher who received Dunlaps head, Mabry said. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. On her cremation marketing website, a donor could simply select from a drop-down menu, fill out a few forms, click Add to Cart, and enter a credit card number. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. found out the cremains contained ashes from an infant, but also long bone fragments of an older/larger adult individual and metal, according to the suspension order. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. What You Need To Know. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. At Sunset Mesa, Hess charged $1,995 for a simple burial and $695 for a basic cremation, according to price lists reviewed by Reuters. A A A Colorado-based funeral home director has been sentenced to 20 years in prison stemming from a litany of charges including fraud and illegally selling the body parts or bodies of approximately 500 individuals whose families did not consent to that practice. Funeral homes in Leadville and Gypsum are under criminal investigation after authorities this month found an unrefrigerated body, bags of unlabeled cremains, an abandoned stillborn infant and at least one instance in which a family received cremains for their stillborn child mixed with bits of adult body parts and metal fragments. The lawsuit claims the three sold torsos for $1,000, a pelvis with upper legs for $1,200. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 4th 2023 at 10:30 AM at the First Church of the Nazarene (505 E Beatty Ave, Yuma, CO 80759). She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. It is illegal to buy or sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Mabry said Koch told him the glass eye couldnt be removed after Dunlaps head was severed, embalmed and shipped to researchers. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. This compassionate help is the essence of what we do. Since that time, according to the article, Reuters has not been able to find another business in the United States that operates a funeral home, crematory, and body broker business in the same location and operated by the same owner. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems,Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Ariz., and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association, said. E.W. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. Hoping to get answers, Denver7 visited Hess home in Montrose. Though Koch dissected bodies in the back room at Sunset Mesa, they claimed that the body had to be sent out for harvesting, Eberspacher said. Email address: Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation, Acquisitions, buy-outs, creative ideas. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . The charges defray the cost of picking up the deceased, she said in the 2016 interview. The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. 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. 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. Two Colorado funeral homes are under criminal investigation after authorities found a unrefrigerated body and learned that at least one family had received a stillborns cremains mixed with portions of adult remains as well as metal fragments. 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. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. 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. Pictures show bodies stacked in hallways and unrefrigerated rental trucks. SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. 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. A grand jury indictment said that from 2010 through 2018, Hess and Koch offered to cremate bodies and provide the remains to families at a cost of $1,000 or more, but many of the cremations never occurred. She showed Denver7 the container that she was given. Hess, 45, and her mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. Her revised online biography cited her high school degree and a love of veterinary medicine.. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. GRAND JUNCTION A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court. On Oct. 2, the Lake and Eagle county sheriffs departments executed a search warrant at the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville, where deputies encountered a strong odor of decomposition, according to an Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by the states Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration, before finding: In addition to the Leadville funeral home, the state issued suspension orders for the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum. Colorado regulators shut down the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in 2018. Thank you, she said before ending the call. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . No one returned her voicemails. NBC10 . Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. 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. She told Contact7 Investigates that she heard bodies being dismembered. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. Such a partnership may raise ethical concerns because it creates a financial incentive for the funeral home. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. In another call two months later, Staci Kent responded to a death scene without a body bag, the indictment states, which led to an argument with law enforcement. The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. The confrontation escalated when Shannon Kent allegedly called Lake County Sheriff Amy Reyes and threatened her with arrest for questioning his wifes decision not to use the body bag, prosecutors said. 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. It is the only state in the country that does not license funeral home and. A judge sentenced a Colorado funeral-home owner who carved up corpses and sold parts of them without families' permission to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. A spokeswoman for Donate LifeAmerica said in an email that Hesss firm is not a federally designated organ procurement organization and has no permission to use the Donate Life brand. The emotional, daylong hearing brought to a close a five-year legal odyssey that began when the FBI raided the funeral home in February 2018, following a Reuters investigation that found Sunset Mesa to be unlike any other business in the country. Hess, along with her mother and father, are all named in a lawsuit, which accuses them of using a backroom to dismember cadavers with a power saw and stack body parts in coolers. The recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. . Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. MONTROSE, Colo. (CBS4) - Federal authorities raided a funeral home in Montrose on Tuesday, at which the owner is under investigation for a side-business donating bodies for education and. I just figured it was a legitimate business., When asked by Denver7 if she ever heard bodies being dismembered, Hampson said, you could hear the machine going. Asked if that machine was a saw, she said, Yes, you could hear that in the room (a back room at the funeral home). Colorado does not regulate body brokers. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. The Denver attorney is referring to the limited and nonexistent regulation nationwide and worldwide regarding the procurement and selling of bodies and body parts. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . . 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. You could hear the machine going, she told Kovaleski. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. The legislation has support from the state's largest trade association for funeral homes, the Colorado Funeral Directors Association. According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . As a matter of fact, the FBI has set up a hot line and e-mail address for potential victims of the businesses to contact with information. Details of Shannon Kents operations come on the heels of a Montrose funeral home that made international headlines in 2018 after an FBI raid and subsequent two-year investigation. She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. Buyers ranged from educators and scientists to individuals in the medical industry. John Wayne Gacy House: Now. While operating Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, Hess and Koch sold remains of the deceased for body broker services without family consent and gave families ashes that were. John Wayne Gacy's house has since been torn down and replaced with a new residence, built on the same land where Gacy reportedly buried many of his victims. 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. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Colorado Funeral Homes. Thank you for thinking of me.. A funeral home in Indiana is under investigation after allegedly falling behind on processing dead bodies for an unknown period of time, but at least a few months. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July 2022 after a 2018 investigation that exposed her for selling parts of dead bodies that were brought to the funeral home for cremation. 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. Reuters began examining the Hess companies more than a year ago as part of the news agencys exploration of the human body trade, a virtually unregulated industry that largely operates in the shadows. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. 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. The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. The federal case was triggered by a 2016-2018 Reuters investigative series about the sale of body parts in the United States, a virtually unregulated industry. An Upstate New York funeral home proprietor is facing imminent criminal charges for allegedly keeping dead human bodies in "advanced states of decomposition" in his business and its detached garage, local officials announced Friday. A price quote Hess sent to an Arizona medical training lab in 2016 offered torsos for $1,000 each. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. She mentioned on several occasions about how much money she would be getting per month, which blew my mind, said Jennifer Henderson, a former floral designer for Sunset Mesa. Hess' mother, Shirley Koch, has also been indicted. These illegitimate businesses are buying and selling body parts just like anything off the shelf at Walmart, added Teselle. Andrew Scheid has been the director at . An indictment filed last week by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver alleges 43-year-old Megan Hess, of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, harvested body parts from hundreds of dead people without any authorization from their families. The transfers were done through Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation and Donor Services, authorities said. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. Along with it would be a note reading: Heres looking at you. The rest of his ashes would be buried with Dunlaps mother in Denver. Reached by phone at Sunset Mesa, Koch said she did not wish to talk with a Reuters reporter. There is also evidence of Donor Services shipping at least 26 boxes containing body parts to various parts of the world in 2016 according to evidence that has been recovered. And it is not against the law to operate a so-called body broker firm from the same facility that houses a funeral home and crematory. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. You are looking at how to make money.. Pettyjohn now lives with the memory of what happened to the body of her 26-year-old son, Brian. The FBI hired a lab to test the cremains given to the families, and they have determined the boxes of ash contain cement, sand and other non-human particles. Hancock is one of more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. A body bag was found to be leaking bodily fluids along with a container of animal remains which was also leaking fluids. This comes after a dozen . Just about any adult can run for coroner in Colorado. parents are now under investigation by the FBI. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Get to know all 17 Denver mayor candidates , Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following discovery of unrefrigerated body, unlabeled cremains, Owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors indicted for illegally selling human body parts, Former Montrose funeral home director accused of selling body parts loses state insurance license, This really has shattered me: Betrayal, anger, grief haunt victims of Colorado funeral home that sold loved ones body parts without permission, Denver weather: Strong winds and low humidity will elevate fire concerns Sunday, Vehicle owners can register for car theft deterrent program DenverTrack, Data breach of DPS computer servers affects all district employees, officials say, Colorado psychologists gain authority to prescribe mental health medication, Colorado property owners to face astronomical tax increases next year, After School Satan Club launching first Colorado chapter, but organizer promises "we are not devil worshippers", PHOTOS: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band play Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado landlords say eviction-protection proposal could make dropping problem renters too hard, No more greasy pizza boxes, paper towels or takeout containers in Front Range compost bins come April 1, 5 can't-miss menus for Denver Restaurant Week, After teen's death, Denver East High students walk out to advocate for gun legislation, Boulder house where JonBenet Ramsey was found dead listed for sale for almost $7M, Metro Denver housing market crosses firmly into negative territory in February, Kiszla: With Brendan Rodgers down and out, Kris Bryant could become $182 million face of worst team in Rockies history, As Adderall shortage continues, DEA plans to limit some telemedicine prescriptions, House where JonBenet Ramsey was found dead listed for sale for almost $7M, Columbia University permanently drops SAT, ACT admissions requirement, The Waterbed Doctor: California retailer lays claim to retro bed with nearly 40 years of service, sales, Felonious Florida podcast: Missing teenage girl leads to several cases of child sex trafficking, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information, Used body bags, medical gloves and other surgical equipment with dried bodily fluid on them piled on the floor, Bodily fluids leaking out of a body bag containing an individual who had not been refrigerated, A container of animal remains leaking fluids, Several bodies in refrigeration wrapped in sheets or blankets without identifying tags or paperwork, An unmarked casket containing a stillborn infant that was abandoned, the suspension order states, Paperwork scattered several feet deep on the floor.