Legal Statement. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. Such multipurpose operations raise ethical concerns, several funeral industry veterans said. Megan Hess pleads guilty, faces 20 years in prison - The Colorado Sun Kent is already facing charges of perjury and official misconduct for sending wife Staci Kent, who is not authorized to act as a deputy coroner, to death scenes on at least three occasions, according to a September 2019 grand jury indictment. There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. 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. The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. They were affiliated with her funeral business. 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. 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. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Indiana funeral home fell behind on processing bodies, which began to 'None of this happened the way you think it did' - High Country News Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. . Charles "Paul" Lynch Obituary (1953 - 2023) | Yuma, Colorado 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. She showed me her collection of gold teeth one day, said Escher, who helped manage a former cremation-marketing business owned by Hess. 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. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. 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. On Monday, the family of Ramon Lara Castillo a 63-year-old Nashville house painter who succumbed to liver cancer in October 2020 filed a federal lawsuit against former funeral director Reid Van Ness and the operators of a funeral home in Lewisburg, Tenn. Roommates and friends of Castillo paid Van Ness $1,800 to ship the body home to his . Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. Fo Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. They cut him up in pieces and sent them all over the place.. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. The body was identified as that of 42 . Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. The Colorado Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration has no employees dedicated solely to it and an annual budget of less than $85,000. FBI probe into Colorado funeral home that doubled as body - Fox News See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. 31 decomposed bodies, cremated remains discovered during Clark - WAVE According to Jeffersonville Police Major Isaac Parker, the department began its investigation of the Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center in Jeffersonville on Friday. Pettyjohn now lives with the memory of what happened to the body of her 26-year-old son, Brian. As a result, Peck and his funeral home were required to pay a $2,500 fine and $5,000 in investigative costs and attorney fees. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. The ex-employee said that she witnessed a collection of gold teeth that Hess mother allegedly extracted from the corpses fillings or crowns and that the familycashed in on the gold to pay for a trip to Disneyland in California. Could, Lake County coroner turns in resignation letter, State suspends operations of Leadville, Gypsum funeral homes, 3 BULLETS TO THE BACK: The striking silence around a police, Last Season Hunters Harvested the Most Bucks in 21 Years | Outdoor Life, Republicans are barring medical boards from punishing doctors who prescribe ivermectin: report | Salon.com, Mead High School student gets musical Make-A-Wish surprise, Bruce Cassidy Defends Tuukka Rask After Tough Showing Vs. As you likely know by now, Diamond of the famous 'Diamond and Silk' sister duo, has passed away at the young age of only 51. Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. I'll never be OK.". [wpforms id=436 title=true description=true]. During her speech at Diamond's funeral, her partner in crime, Silk, implied that there was foul play involved in her death and urged for an investigation. Former workers told Reuters that Hess and Koch conducted unauthorized dismemberments of bodies, and a few weeks after a 2018 story was published, the FBI raided the business. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. 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. Body brokering is not illegal in Colorado; however, a 2020 Denver7 report noted that Hess, along with her mother, were donating bodies without the consent of the deceased's family. Finally, after a month, she got Staci Kent on the phone and laid into her, asking why she hadnt heard anything about her sons cremains. Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway's Cause of Death Revealed You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. I thought it was something that needs to be corrected," said state Senator Larry Crowder, one of the bills sponsors. Thousands more patients could benefit from life saving and healing eye and tissue donations.. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation Two Colorado funeral homes are under criminal investigation after authorities found a unrefrigerated body and learned that at least one family had received a stillborn's cremains mixed. Such a partnership may raise ethical concerns because it creates a financial incentive for the 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 Colorado coroner arrested, accused of tampering with a human body Twenty-six victims described their horror at discovering what had happened to their loved ones. Megan Hess, the former operator of a Montrose funeral home convicted of selling body parts without family consent, was . 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. Her 69-year-old mother, Shirley Koch, also pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 15 years. 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. Jeffersonville funeral home under investigation after police find When Mabry and Eberspacher went to Sunset Mesa the morning after Dunlap died, Hess and Koch said they could not locate the eye, Eberspacher said. Legal Statement. 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. At the nursing home, Eberspacher said she reminded Koch that the glass eye was supposed to be returned and suggested it be popped out there. The indictment accuses Kent of allowing his wife to go out to death scenes as a deputy coroner, even though she took no oath and an appointment had not been filed with the county clerk, as required by law. Few state laws provide any oversight. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems. Colorado woman sentenced to 20 years for stealing, selling body parts Its a profit business. Other charges against Hess will . The report also noted that a former employee at Sunset Mesa was troubled by Hess mother, who was responsible for embalming and dismembering the dead bodies. (REUTERS). Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . Licenses revoked for Pocatello funeral home - KTVB Teselle said, Whats shocking to me is that theres not an outcry for there to be more legislation, theres not an outcry for the government to regulate and license these people.. 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. Peck was given another six months of probation. Colorado funeral home operators sentenced for selling body parts 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. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. Hess continues running a dual operation. 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. Reuters could find no other operation active in the United States that houses a funeral home, crematory and body broker in the same facility and under the same ownership. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. The 20-year term was the maximum allowed under law. [the FBI told me] his head was sent to so and so. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). But no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education. Specifics of the scope of theFBI investigation are unclear. Finally, after a month, she got Staci Kent on the phone and laid into her, asking why she hadnt heard anything about her sons cremains. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling Before referring questions to a lawyer, Hess spoke extensively with Reuters about her body broker company. Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. 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