Colorado Funeral Home Under Investigation for Improper Handling of Remains: Over 100 Bodies Found, Authorities Say

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (AP) — Police said Friday they have found at least 115 bodies at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home under investigation for improper handling of remains.

Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said they are coordinating with other agencies to determine if there is any wrongdoing.

The Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, performed “green” burials without embalming chemicals or metal caskets.

The investigation centered on a building owned by the funeral home where local residents reported smelling a foul stench before police became involved.

Deputies were called to the single-story building on Tuesday night in reference to a suspicious incident. Fremont County Sheriff’s Office investigators returned the next day with a search warrant and found the improperly stored remains.

Authorities said Friday at the press conference they believe there is currently no health risk to the public. They declined to describe in detail the scene inside the 2,500-square-foot (232-square-meter) facility next door to the town’s post office, the size of an average U.S. home.

“It is not clear if a crime has been committed, that is a focus of the investigation at the state and federal level,” FBI spokeswoman Vikki Migoya said.

Investigators were in touch with the funeral home operators and they were cooperating, Cooper said.

Penrose is a town of about 3,000 people.

Trash bags could be seen outside the entrance of the company’s building, with two law enforcement vehicles parked in front. Yellow police tape cordoned off the area and a putrid odor pervaded the air.

A hearse was parked at the back of the building, in a parking lot overgrown with weeds. Near the squat building was a post office and a few scattered homes, spaced out between dry grass and empty lots with parked semi-trucks.

Under Colorado law, green burials are legal but state code requires that any body not buried within 24 hours must be properly refrigerated.

Joyce Pavetti, 73, can see the funeral home from the stoop of her house and said she caught whiffs of a putrid smell in the last few weeks.

“We just assumed it was a dead animal,” she said. On Wednesday night, Pavetti said she could see lights from law enforcement swarming around the building and knew something was going on.

The building has been occupied by different businesses over the years, said Pavetti, who once took yoga classes there. She hasn’t seen anyone in the area recently and noticed the hearse behind the building only in recent months, she said.