Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. Reuters could not independently verify this figure. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains. 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. Subscribe to Funeral Director Daily It is unbelievable, said Dave Teselle, a Denver-based attorney who represents Hancock and more than five dozen other families in a claim against the owners of Sunset Mesa and the companies who are accused of buying the body parts. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. The true-crime podcast "Criminal," which covered the story in its 131st episode, reports that when Grand Junction resident Debbie Schum visited Sunset Mesa after the death of her friend in 2017, the funeral home's director, Megan Hess, told Schum that she could not provide cremation services unless Schum paid her $1,000 upfront. Email address: Colorado Funeral Home / Body Broker Continues Under Investigation, Acquisitions, buy-outs, creative ideas. 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. 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. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous. 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. 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. The focus and extent of the federal probe into the Hess operation is unclear, and the FBI also declined to comment. You could hear the machine going, she told Kovaleski. Thank you, she said before ending the call. Jacque Hampson spent a year working as Hesss personal assistant. 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. The eye was never returned, said Eberspacher and Dunlaps friend, Ron Mabry. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. The couple got dressed up in matching outfits and brought a special camera. . She said she and her mother, Koch, handled about 10 cadavers a month in the back room. Its not something that can be fixed., Hancock was notified by the FBI that her husbands body parts had been sold without her consent. The. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Feb 4, 2023, 5:26 PM SGT. MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. 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. This compassionate help is the essence of what we do. 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. A Medical Examiner can often discover hidden evidence of injury to explain a sudden death, or can document natural diseases to show that no foul play was involved in the death. "No, I did not," Hancock responded. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. 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. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. Read on to see why: At a glance, the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home appeared to be a business helping locals through the loss of their loved ones. Hess, 45, and her mother, Shirley Koch, operated the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello on Tuesday sentenced Hess, 46, to 20 years in prison the maximum allowable for her role in a nearly decade-long scheme to sell body parts without the. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. 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. Instead of paying the standard $695 cremation fee to . You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). Fo 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. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. "This is the most emotionally draining. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. His two shoulders went somewhere else. 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. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. Before he died in 2016, the 78-year-old retired contractor saved $200 on cremation by agreeing to pledge parts of his body to Donor Services. Donor Services has circulated a brochure that reads: Be a hero. Seeing how this chapter is opening up again is incredible, its unbelievable. 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. Both have become experts on the secret industry of selling body parts on a world wide market. 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. 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. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. ThinkStock via Getty Images. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison By The Associated Press January 4, 2023, 12:16 AM It is the only state in the country that does not license funeral home and. In their filing, prosecutors stressed the "macabre nature" of Hess' scheme and described it as one of the most significant body parts cases in recent U.S. history. Legal Statement. Denver attorneys Mike Berg and Dave Teselle now represent more than 50 families who claim Hess and her parents victimized them. There are no ethics there when you do that.. She took orders for body parts via Hotmail, email records show. 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. It described a body broker as a company that acquires dead bodies, dissects them and sells the parts for profit to medical researchers, training organizations and other buyers.. A Colorado funeral home is under federal investigation over accusations it doubled as a body broker firm, buying and selling human body parts, a Reuters special report revealed Tuesday. Golden Gate's owner denies all allegations. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. Hess and Koch also shipped bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonged to people who died from, infectious diseases including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, despite certifying to buyers that the remains were disease-free, authorities said. DENVER -- To many it is simply the unthinkable. Responding to the investigations and details reported out of Montrose, Colorado lawmakers could become the first in the country to pass a law making it illegal for funeral home or crematory owners to operate as a body broker. Dunlap left one specific instruction: The glass eye that hed worn since a childhood accident should be removed and sent to his best friend. "Hess and Koch's conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.". Buyers ranged from educators and scientists to individuals in the medical industry. GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO: On allegations of fraud and illegally selling body parts, a former owner of a funeral home in Colorado was given a 20-year term in federal prison. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge. The remains Hess returned to families were also not those of their loved ones. 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. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Its really an underground industry that most people dont know about, said attorney Michael Burg. It can't be fixed, said Hancock. . The gruesome details of the case which authorities say included more than 500 victims drew international attention and shined a light on the . In reality, Burg added, they are just trying to get those bodies free and then they are going to chop them up themselves in parts and make money off the bodies.. According to the Johnstown, N.Y. Police Department, Brian M. Barnett, 35, who owns the since-shuttered Ehle . I said I dont want to hear anymore.. The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. Its for profit and people dont realize there is a huge demand for cadavers and body parts., That demand comes from all over the world including medical schools, law enforcement agencies, the military and a variety of other industries looking to legitimately purchase bodies and body parts for credible research. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. 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. John Wayne Gacy House: Now. She was sold, embalmed and shipped out within just a few hours of her death, said Holloman. 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. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. A former Colorado funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on charges of fraud and selling body parts without permission. The Denver attorney is referring to the limited and nonexistent regulation nationwide and worldwide regarding the procurement and selling of bodies and body parts. Twenty-five of the brokers were for-profit corporations. Hess had created a nonprofit organization in 2009 called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation as a body-broker service doing business as Donor Services, authorities said. Subscribe today to see what all the buzz is about. Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Members of the FBI, along with Montrose law enforcement investigate the Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building Tuesday morning, February 6, 2018. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Six people were killed, including federal District Court Chief Judge John Roll; Gabe Zimmerman, one of Giffords's staffers; and a 9-year-old girl . In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems, said Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Arizona, and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association. ), Windsors Newest Hot Spot is Open and Smells of Glorious Bacon [Photos], The Cheapest Home in Weld County is Selling for Less Than $90K, Local Fort Collins Photographer Wins 3rd Grammy in the Visual Arts, WATCH: This Deleted Scene From The Office Totally Calls Out Colorado, The 2023 Cheyenne Frontier Days Concert Lineup Has Been Announced, This Weeks Larimer Countys Most Wanted: Dallas Rusk, 3 Northern Colorado Districts in Top 10 for Slow Internet Access, New Life Planned for this Beloved Greeley Building, the dark history behind the town's funeral home, READ: This 1993 Steamboat Springs Murder Became One of the Nation's Most Chilling Cases. Authorities are now investigating. 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. 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. Thank you for thinking of me.. Before referring questions to a lawyer, Hess spoke extensively with Reuters about her body broker company. Funeral Director Daily take: I have a hard time fathoming what may have went on at this funeral home. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. The back of the brochure featured the logo Donate Life, the national brand that promotes organ donation and is managed by Donate Life America, a nonprofit group. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. 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. SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Sisters Layna and Janet Hutt hold photos of their father, Raymond Hutt, who died in 2016 at the age of 96. pleaded guilty to fraud in July after a . SCI 4Q Revenue and Year End Revenue lower than comparables, Funeral Director Daily, The business of Funeral Care. He has served as Lake County coroner since 2012 and was reelected to a four-year term in November 2018. Contact7 Chief Investigative Reporter Tony Kovaleski traveled to Montrose and talked to more than a half dozen family members now victims about what they describe as a scheme to profit from their pain. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. The suspension order details a 2019 instance in which an unnamed individual arranged with Kents funeral home for the cremation of their stillborn child. She showed me her collection of gold teeth one day, said Escher, who helped manage a former cremation-marketing business owned by Hess. 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. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. Few state laws provide any oversight. "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. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. It is also the only state that doesnt license funeral directors. The next year,. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. 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. 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. But no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education. My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. 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. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Hiring funeral directors: Do you look for IQ or EQ? Non-compete agreements, Customer Experience, Community Engagement. But two said Hess sometimes bragged about how lucrative it was to sell bodies and body parts. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. and Cavanagh, Reh had an immensely difficult time reaching the Kents, the phone ringing unanswered for weeks. The article also tells about how Sunset Mesa Funeral Home handled some services free of charge. That means almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human remains. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. 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. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. 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. 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. POCATELLO, Idaho A Pocatello funeral home under investigation by the Idaho Board of Morticians has had its licenses revoked. I see his body parts floating in space and I keep trying to grab them and put him back and I can't! In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Other charges against Hess will . The Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center is under investigation by Jeffersonville Police Detective Division after 31 deceased individuals and the post-cremated remains of 16 individuals. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. They desecrated his little body, she said. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. 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 other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. Updated: 8:07 PM MDT September 14, 2021. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because when it became the 38th state, the United States turned 100 on August 1, 1876. Reuters has reported in a report that you can read here that the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home of Montrose, Colorado, and its associated business, Donor Services, remains under investigation by the FBI. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. . Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Its for the good of the world, and I like to help people, Hess said. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). The price list is from an Arizona company shut down after an FBI raid five years ago. The most expensive prices were for an upper torso that included a head and arms ($4,000) and the cost of an entire body was $5,000, according to the price list. Kent also still faces second-degree official misconduct charges stemming from a September 2019 grand jury indictment in the Fifth Judicial District. 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. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. N.Y. . Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. 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. 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. 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. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. A former Colorado funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on charges of fraud and selling body parts without permission. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains. 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. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Take a look at some of Colorado's most notorious crimes. After losing his ability to conduct cremation or funeral home services in December, Kent's Silverthorne funeral parlor sat empty until this month when the new tenant, Colorado Funeral Homes . She showed Denver7 the container that she was given. In cases like Schum's, where a family did agree to donate a body part, Hess sold more than she had permission to. Before he died in 2016, the 78-year-old retired contractor saved $200 on cremation by agreeing to pledge parts of his body to Donor Services. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. I just had the impression that something wasnt right all along. He said neither Hess nor Koch told him that his friends body parts would be sold. No one would pick up the phone. 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.
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