A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12. Details of Shannon Kents operations come on the heels of a Montrose funeral home that made international headlines in 2018 after an FBI raid and subsequent two-year investigation. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Chantal Reh, an Avon resident, went through a similar experience when she suffered a stillborn birth in August 2018. . are acquisitions larger in general? Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. According to Jeffersonville Police Major Isaac Parker, the department began its investigation of the Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center in Jeffersonville on Friday. But it provided an important public service, she said. It was kinda creepy., It is totally unregulated, said Burg. 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. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. The operators of a Colorado funeral home suspected of running a side business selling body parts without consent have been indicted on fraud and illegally transporting diseased cadavers. These people deserve to know why what was done to them was done to them. A Colorado funeral home is under federal investigation over accusations it doubledas a body broker firm, buying and selling human body parts, aReuters special report revealedTuesday. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. Torsos are a popular specimen these days, she wrote. When Schum hesitated, Hess said she would waive the cremation fee if Schum agreed to donate her friend's bladder to science. 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.. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . Part 8: Former workers describe troubling practices at this mortuary-body broker, including allegations of deceptive marketing and an account of how gold dental work was removed from corpses and sold. A former employee has alleged misconduct regarding the disposal of the deceased at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas. Two Colorado funeral homes are under criminal investigation after authorities found a unrefrigerated body and learned that at least one family had received a stillborn's cremains mixed. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. Colorado regulators shut down the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in 2018. Andrew Scheid has been the director at . 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. In February of 2018, Colorado regulators shut down the funeral home at the same time the FBI was investigating claims families did not receive the real cremains of their loved ones. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. 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. Donating bodies, selling the parts: Frequently asked questions. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. The probe into the coroners funeral homes started back in February, after a client complained to the Lake County Sheriffs Office about the handling of human remains. The Unaffiliated is our twice-weekly newsletter on Colorado politics and policy. The federal case was triggered by a 2016-2018 Reuters investigative series about the sale of body parts in the United States, a virtually unregulated industry. Shannon and Staci Kent did not respond to interview requests from The Denver Post. Its a community struggling to understand the stories and the accusations about what happened in the back room at Sunset Mesa. Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. . According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. Authorities also uncovered multiple refrigerated bodies which were wrapped in sheets or blankets but did not have any tags or paperwork identifying them. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction. Pictures show bodies stacked in hallways and unrefrigerated rental trucks. 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 lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. . 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The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. Thats when E.W. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. 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. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? Ive had nightmares about it, said Fredericka Freddie Hancock. There are currently 350 funeral home listings for the state of Colorado and we provide all the cemetery information for the state as well. 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. 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. A few days later, she was able to pick up the cremains, but like E.W., Cavanagh received no paperwork. POCATELLO, Idaho Police in Pocatello are investigating a local funeral home after they said a state health inspector contacted them about the business and a badly decomposed body was found. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. . Now its possible its not my baby in the urn, Reh said. First published on Wed 6 Jul 2022 10.36 EDT. Colorado Funeral Homes. Hess committed crimes, prosecutors said, when she defrauded relatives of the deceased by lying about cremations and by dissecting bodies and selling them without permission. After reading the states suspension order this week, two women told The Denver Post that the circumstances surrounding E.W. sound eerily familiar. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. 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. N.Y. But the business arrangement is highly unusual. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. The surgical-training companies and other firms which bought the arms, legs, heads and torsos from Hess did not know they had been fraudulently obtained, prosecutors said. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. 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. Twenty-five of the brokers were for-profit corporations. Reached by phone at Sunset Mesa, Koch said she did not wish to talk with a Reuters reporter. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. 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.. I went through a very bad crisis losing the baby, Cavanagh said. Teselle said, Whats shocking to me is that theres not an outcry for there to be more legislation, theres not an outcry for the government to regulate and license these people.. As she mourned the loss of her son, Cavanagh was referred to the Kent Funeral Home in Gypsum to do the cremation. Separate from the FBI inquiry, Reuters has learned that Colorado state funeral regulators are investigating Hesss funeral home, Sunset Mesa. All rights reserved. None of the former employees or associates Reuters interviewed worked directly for the body broker business. They were arrested in 2020 and charged with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegal transportation of hazardous materials. I said I dont want to hear anymore.. She says Shirley Koch came to pick up his body. 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). The details of the plea agreement are unknown, but a trial for Hess' mother is still on track to proceed. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . 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. The startling discovery led to a further investigation of oversight in the funeral industry. Denver attorneys Mike Berg and Dave Teselle now represent more than 50 families who claim Hess and her parents victimized them. 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. But days went by and she couldnt reach anyone. . Connie Hansons sons body parts were also allegedly sold. Hess' mother, Shirley Koch, has also been indicted. 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. The reality of body brokers profiting from the sale of body parts has made national and international headlines following government raids in Arizona and Colorado in recent years. Kent has not been arrested in this latest incident and no charges have been filed, though the two funeral homes business licenses have been suspended by the state. a contrarian view? Further, the van was holding two other bodies that needed to be removed.. PUBLISHED 8:21 PM CT Apr. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. Kent kept giving excuses, Cavanagh said. Body brokering is not illegal in Colorado; however, a 2020 Denver7 report noted that Hess, along with her mother, were donating bodies without the consent of the deceased's family. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. 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 Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Officials also found the "post-cremation remains" of 16 people, according . Ducks, Used body bags, medical gloves and other surgical equipment with dried bodily fluid on them piled on the floor, Bodily fluids leaking out of a body bag containing an individual who had not been refrigerated, A container of animal remains leaking fluids, Several bodies in refrigeration wrapped in sheets or blankets without identifying tags or paperwork, An unmarked casket containing a stillborn infant that was abandoned, the suspension order states, Paperwork scattered several feet deep on the floor. Prior to the raid, the cost of purchasing an arm and shoulder was $600. Below, find out where 25 of the most infamous crimes in history took place and what the locations are used for today. did not receive a contract for funeral services, and only received the cremains after several calls to Kent, the order states. I saw a lot inside as far as, you know, body parts and things like that. She continued, But I was oblivious to what was going on. Hansons box included wires and what appear to be old batteries. We did not provide our messaging to be repurposed in this brochure, and are following up, said spokeswoman Erin Dolin. Finally Reh and her boyfriend went to the funeral home with the expectation that they would see their baby. ), 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. POCATELLO, Idaho A Pocatello funeral home under investigation by the Idaho Board of Morticians has had its licenses revoked. It is a business and it is a profit business, added Burg. I told them it didnt make sense, Mabry said. After receiving the cremains, E.W. 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. Authorities are now investigating. I'll never be OK.". Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. After a reporter asked questions about the websiteand her background, Hess removed the Add to Cart donation pages from her cremation website and cut the mention of the mortuary science degree from her online biography. Market data provided by Factset.