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. My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. Her father, Alan Koch, ran the crematory, Hess said. Im not interested. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems. 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. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. 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. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. ThinkStock via Getty Images. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. His two shoulders went somewhere else. Enter your email address to join 3,177 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles. 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. Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. 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. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. Extra charges are assessed if a body is embalmed or a funeral director is involved. Hancock is one of many family members who has learned the cremains she was given by the owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose contained items and materials that were not her husband. Its a profit business. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. They cut him up in pieces and sent them all over the place.. 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. Ive been violated, said Alena Holloman. 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. 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. 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. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. At the time of publication, no charges had been filed against the coroner, though Colorado has suspended the business licenses for both funeral homes. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. She told Contact7 Investigates that she heard bodies being dismembered. Reached by phone at Sunset Mesa, Koch said she did not wish to talk with a Reuters reporter. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral home they previously operated. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. E.W. On January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords and 18 others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in the Tucson metropolitan area. 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. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. According to theDenver Post, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Hess this year regarding a 2020 indictment against her and her mother. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. But selling body parts such as heads, arms and spines which is what Hess did for use in research or education is not regulated by federal law. parents are now under investigation by the FBI. 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. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. 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. In Colorado and most other states, it's legal for funeral homes to sell items taken from corpses, including the gold found in teeth. Other charges against Hess will be dropped under a plea agreement, the Sentinel said. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. Koch's central role was chopping up the bodies, court records show. While Sunset Mesa legally is permitted to own and operate both businesses, Reuters found that there was no other active instance where a funeral home, crematory and body broker had the same owner and were in the same facility. Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. But it provided an important public service, she said. Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Colorado regulators have shut down the funeral home. Sunset Mesas operators, Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, were indicted by a federal grand jury in March for allegedly shipping body parts all over the world against the will of family members, who found out years later that the ashes in their homes were not those of their loved ones. 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. Legal Statement. They are struggling with claims she created a product with a power saw and angry that she ultimately profited from the sale of arms, heads legs, torsos even whole bodies. You are looking at how to make money.. The home, located at 8215 W. Summerdale Ave., was sold for just shy of $400,000 in May 2021. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. There are people and businesses who spend millions and millions of dollars," Teselle added, "trafficking in these body parts as if they were nothing more than cans of soup or loaves of bread., I was pretty shocked, said Jacque Hampson, a former employee of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose. 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. . Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images. 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. These illegitimate businesses are buying and selling body parts just like anything off the shelf at Walmart, added Teselle. 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. 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. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Email:
[email protected] Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 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. The Donor Services brochure was criticized as deceptive by two major U.S. organ donation groups after Reuters shared it with them. 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). Megan Hess, a former Colorado funeral home director, chopped up over 500 . 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. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. 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. 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 Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. When asked if it contained her husbands cremains, she said, I dont know.. The Lake County Sheriffs Office confirmed an active criminal investigation is underway. 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. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. It is illegal to buy or sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant. 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. Did you ever consent to have this family mutilate your husbands body? asked Denver7. She operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, and a body parts entity, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado. I see his body parts floating in space and I keep trying to grab them and put him back and I can't! This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, I'll never be OK.". 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. A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. 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. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. It is the only state in the country that does not license funeral home and. 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. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . She did. It comes on the heels of a law passed in 2020 that. Kent has not yet been arrested for the most recent incidents, which at the Leadville funeral home included authorities' discovery of an abandoned stillborn, according to the Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by Colorados Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration. I go to sleep with the visions of him being dismembered with a power saw, said Ruthie Pettyjohn, whose sons body parts were allegedly sold. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July. 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. 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. 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). Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. 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. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Kent also operates funeral homes in Silverthorne, Idaho Springs, Fairplay and Buena Vista. They desecrated his little body, she said. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? She says Shirley Koch came to pick up his body. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. They were affiliated with her funeral business. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. 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. The brochure, provided to Reuters by Hess during the 2016 interview, continued this way: Every year, organ, eye and tissue transplants provide hope to tens of thousands of people suffering from disease, injury, trauma or blindness. N.Y. . 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. 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. 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. As funeral directors, while we dont do everything perfect, we should have the best interest of our client families at heart. She showed Denver7 the container that she was given. 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. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. 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. A former employee has alleged misconduct regarding the disposal of the deceased at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas. 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. 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.. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Colorado Ordway Funeral Homes Eaton Family Funeral Home Eaton Family Funeral Home in Ordway 202 E 3rd St Ordway, CO 81063 (719) 267-4221 Click to show location on map Zoom About Eaton Family Funeral Home We understand that losing a loved one can be a very stressful time. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. 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. Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. A woman in Colorado has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally selling body parts. [the FBI told me] his head was sent to so and so. Another alleged victim said her mothers body was desecrated. Earlier this month, authorities from both Lake and Eagle counties encountered a strong odor of decomposition when they searched the Leadville funeral home, reads. The other nine were structured as nonprofits, including Donor Services the only broker Reuters could find that still doubles as a funeral home. Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. 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. Hess made donating a body online easy. 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. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. Details uncovered in the FBI investigation were shared with her. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. The New York Times, a far-left outlet, admitted in a report that Trump's rollback of a rule from President Barack She said she and her mother, Koch, handled about 10 cadavers a month in the back room. That means almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human remains. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. 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.