(2 Nov 2018) About two dozen people gathered at a Detroit cemetery to remember loved ones whose cremated remains were recovered from a local funeral home after it was shut down by the state for improperly storing bodies and other violations.
Clergy solemnly read aloud the names belonging to most of the cremains, but more than 50 were listed as "unidentified loved" ones at Friday's service at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
Placed in five caskets, most of the remains will be interred at Mt. Olivet.
About 20 others, identified as military veterans, were in a flag-draped coffin and are expected to be buried at a national cemetery in Holly, Michigan.
All of the remains were found earlier this year at Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit, which had its license suspended in April after inspectors found bodies covered in what appeared to be mold.
Inspections also turned up an unsanitary embalming room.
The funeral home also was operating with an expired prepaid funeral and cemetery sales registration.
The state says money for prepaid funeral goods or services had not been deposited with an authorized escrow agent within 30 days of receipt.
Remains of Darlene Hardison's father, Hoover Heags, were at Cantrell for about a year.
Heags died of heart failure, said 46-year-old Darlene Hardison, who knew the funeral home still had the remains.
"God works. He's real. He works. And he made this happen," a tearful Hardison told reporters.
"It may not have been the way we thought it was going to happen, but he gave us closure. And he made it happen for them. So, I thank the Lord so much for what he did for us, for everyone."
Detroit police are looking into possible criminal charges against Cantrell's operators after the mummified remains of 10 fetuses and a full-term infant were discovered last month beneath insulation in a ceiling at the building.
Those remains are part of the police investigation and were not included in Friday's service.

Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ] ​​
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]


You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]

свернуть