After nearly 200 were found dead bodies piled up and rotting in a funeral home in Coloradolawmakers proposed bills to overhaul the state's funeral home regulations, which have failed to prevent a series of gruesome cases — such as the sale of human limbs to fake ashes.
These cases have shocked hundreds of families. Many learned that the remains of their loved ones were not in the ashes they ritually spread or held tightly for years, but were instead lost in a building or in the back of a hearse.
That situation prompted state lawmakers to unveil a bipartisan bill Monday that would implement the first requirements of Colorado licensing to become a funeral director, bringing licensing rules in line with all other states and even surpassing most, broadcast the Associated Press.
The bill also sets requirements for other jobs in the industry, including embalmers and cremators.
Too many families of his Colorado they had to face the horrific and unacceptable reality that their loved ones' remains had been mistreated, lost, improperly cared for, sold,” Democratic Sen. Dylan Roberts, one of the bill's sponsors, said at a press conference. This is a dramatic update in a state where funeral directors are not required to have graduated from high school. If the bill passes, the license would require a background check, a degree in mortuary science, passing national exams and an apprenticeship.
The 190 bodies were discovered last year in a building in Penrose and the owners have been arrested and face hundreds of charges, including abuse of a corpse. A red flag had been raised by the local coroner as early as 2020, three years before the bodies were discovered.
In February, a few months after bodies were found in a bed bug-infested funeral home two hours south of Denver, another body was found in a separate case: that of Christina Rosales. Rosales' body lay in a hearse, covered with blankets, for 18 months. It was only discovered because the owner of the funeral home in suburban Denver was evicted. Rosales had died at age 63 of Alzheimer's, and her husband, George Rosales, had chosen the funeral home because they were friends with the undertaker.
When George Rosales learned that his late wife's body had been left in a hearse and that he had been given someone else's ashes, tried to stay strong for their two young adult children. “I cried many times for her. After 18 months I thought I was done with it, but it started all over again,” he said after speaking at a press conference in support of the bill. “I probably wouldn't have found out about my wife's body if the eviction hadn't happened.”
When the FBI announced to Shelia Canfield-Jones that her daughter's remains had been found among nearly 200 at a facility in Colorado, sat with the employees holding the urn in disbelief. The mother refused to part with what she believed to be her daughter's ashes for four years.
Canfield-Jones remembers an employee finally removing the ashes from the urn and repeating, “She's not your daughter.” “He had to tell us over and over again,” she said in an interview with watery eyes. “It was horrible.” Canfield-Jones now suffers from nightmares of her daughter's decomposing body.
Joe Walsh, president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association, said the group is in favor of the legislation.
Source: News Beast
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