By MATTHEW BROWN and COLLEEN SLEVIN
DENVER (AP) — State inspectors in Colorado found about 20 decomposing bodies behind a hidden door in a funeral home owned by a county coroner, who told them he may have given fake ashes to next of kin who sought cremations, authorities disclosed Thursday.
The bodies were discovered in a room behind a door hidden by a cardboard display during an inspection of Davis Mortuary in Pueblo, about 110 miles south of Denver. Inspectors found a “strong odor of decomposition” after arriving at the business on Wednesday. Brian Cotter — the owner and Pueblo County coroner — had asked them not to enter the room, according to a document from state regulators.
Colorado long had some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the nation, with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators. That has allowed numerous abuses, including a pending case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies that were found stored at room temperature in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about 30 miles from Pueblo.
A sentencing in that case of one of the funeral home’s owners for corpse abuse is set for Friday.
The discovery in Pueblo came during the first inspection of Davis Mortuary under rules adopted last year in response to prior crimes within Colorado’s funeral industry.
Before the law changed, funeral homes could only be inspected if a complaint had been filed against them. Davis Mortuary did not have any complaints, said Sam Delp, director of the Division of Professions and Occupations in the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.
Cotter told inspectors that some of the bodies had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years, according to the document from state regulators that explained why the state suspended the mortuary’s registration.
“This is a profound violation of trust and a heartbreaking betrayal of the families who entrusted their loved ones to this funeral home,” Colorado Bureau of Investigation director Armando Saldate III said.
The estimate of 20 bodies in the room came from funeral home staff. The corpses were not immediately removed, and authorities said as a result, they did not yet have a precise number.
Investigators on Thursday were collecting evidence with the help of state troopers trained in responding to hazardous materials, Saldate said, noting that they were “respectfully and humanely” handling the bodies.
Cotter has not been arrested, and Pueblo County District Attorney Kala Beauvais said no charges have been filed as the investigation continues.
A woman who answered the phone at the mortuary said it had no comment and declined to make Cotter available for an interview.
Cotter did not immediately respond to a message left with the coroner’s office.
Cotter and his brother, Chris, bought Davis Mortuary in 1989, according to the business’s website. It said the brothers brought with them an “old school” way of operating that they learned from their father, who owned and operated funeral homes in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.
In most states, funeral homes are routinely inspected, but for many years, no such rules were on the books in Colorado.
Owners of a funeral home in Grand Junction, Colorado, were convicted in 2022 of selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes. In yet another case, a woman’s body was found last year in the back of a hearse where a suburban Denver funeral home had left it for over a year. At least 30 sets of cremated remains were found stashed throughout that funeral director’s home.
Colorado lawmakers last year approved changes intended to tighten oversight, bringing the state in line with most other states. One requires regulators to routinely inspect funeral homes and gives them more enforcement power. Another implements licensing for funeral directors and other workers in the industry. They would need to pass background checks and a national exam while possessing degrees and work experience.
Previously, funeral home directors in Colorado didn’t have to graduate from high school, let alone have a degree.
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.