Authorities warned that it could take many months for DNA testing to identify the severely decomposed corpses.
Officials stated on Tuesday that they had taken the horribly decaying remains of at least 189 people from a Colorado funeral home after learning they were being illegally preserved, updating earlier figures from a week ago.
Colorado’s Bureau of Investigation stated on Tuesday that “teams removed at least 189 individuals and transported them to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office,” adding that the operation was finished on October 13. As the identification and investigating processes proceed, “the total number of decedents may change.”
The number of bodies uncovered at the area had been previously estimated at 115. According to police, the bodies are in such an advanced condition of decomposition that DNA analysis will be needed to identify many of them, which might take many months.
Authorities who reacted to a report of a bad smell coming from the Return to Nature funeral home in a dilapidated structure in the small town of Penrose, Colorado, found the bodies of the deceased people.
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The funeral home’s proprietors had just fallen behind on their tax obligations and were evicted from one of their properties when the human remains were discovered. According to reports, a crematory provider that had allegedly stopped doing business with the funeral parlour over a year prior also sued them for unpaid fees.
Allen Cooper, the sheriff of Fremont County, described the area of the funeral parlour where the bodies were unlawfully housed as “horrific” earlier this month without going into too much detail to spare these families any harm.
According to Cooper, the scene that emergency personnel saw when authorities arrived was so overpowering that one paramedic needed medical attention for a rash.
The funeral home’s website claims that it provides a service known as “Green Burial,” which it describes as a means to care for a deceased loved one without having a significant negative impact on the environment. Any body that is not buried within 24 hours must comply with state law and be appropriately chilled.
The funeral home’s proprietors have not made any public remarks about the predicament.
