A Colorado funeral home run by the Pueblo county coroner was keeping an estimated 20 decomposing bodies behind a hidden door, some of which had been there for up to 15 years, state officials said Thursday.
State inspectors noticed “a strong odor of decomposition” when they arrived at Davis Mortuary for an annual inspection Wednesday, according to documents released by the .
The funeral home is operated by county coroner Brian Cotter, who was and sits on the
Inspectors removed a cardboard covering from a hidden doorway inside the funeral home and found bodies in “various states of decomposition,” state officials said.
Investigators do not yet have an exact count of how many bodies are involved because they couldn’t get into the room without moving the bodies, DORA director of the Division of Professions and Occupations Sam Delp said at a news conference in Pueblo on Thursday.
Staff at the funeral home told inspectors they estimated 20 bodies were inside.
Cotter first tried to claim that the bodies were awaiting cremation, but later told inspectors that some had been in the room for roughly 15 years, according to state documents. He also admitted he may have issued fake cremains to some of the grieving families.
“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 said at the Thursday briefing.
There appeared to be a refrigeration unit in the room, but it wasn’t clear what was inside or whether it was functional, state officials said.
This is the first time DORA has ever conducted an annual inspection at Davis Mortuary because inspections were not required at Colorado funeral homes until state lawmakers overhauled industry regulations in 2024 after years of scandal and misconduct.
Colorado’s rules governing funeral homes are among the weakest in the nation, according to industry experts.
The push to ramped up after multiple high-profile cases of funeral home and mortuary owners illegally selling body parts, storing decomposing bodies for years without refrigeration and giving grieving families fake ashes.
The owner of a defunct Jefferson County funeral home was arrested in 2024 after police found he stored human remains and cremains in a Denver home he rented, including a woman’s body that he kept in a hearse in the driveway for 18 months.
The husband and wife owners of Return to Nature funeral home in Penrose were arrested after authorities found 190 decomposing bodies of adults, infants and fetuses, some stacked on top of each other, in October 2023 after neighbors reported a putrid smell coming from the building.
And in 2018, federal agents raided Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose where a mother and daughter team were harvesting and selling body parts without knowledge or consent of the families.
Some of the same investigators who worked on the Return to Nature case are also investigating Davis Mortuary, Saldate said. Colorado State Patrol hazmat operators are also working on the case, and Denver’s FBI field office has also offered to help.
“Please know that we’ll be working as quickly as we can while ensuring we do not compromise the integrity of the investigation,” Saldate said.
Cotter has not been arrested but is under investigation, state officials said Thursday. Investigators are seeking legal guidance about how to handle the case, as Cotter would normally be involved as the coroner. His current term is set to end in 2027.
Cotter is the appointed designee for Davis Mortuary at 128 Broadway Ave. in Pueblo, state records show. He bought the mortuary in 1989 with his brother, Chris, according to the
“The Cotter brothers brought with them to the Davis Mortuary the ‘old school’ ways of caring for families in need which they learned from their father who owned and operated several funeral homes in Kansas, Nebraska and southern Colorado,” company staff wrote on an “About Us” page.
The funeral home is under investigation for willful dishonest conduct, negligence and fraud, among other charges, according to state documents. As of Wednesday, its operations were suspended pending investigation.
Cotter’s business took custody of more human remains than it had capacity for, state officials said.
That means the bodies weren’t treated or stored properly, with the funeral home failing to embalm, refrigerate, cremate, bury or entomb the remains within 24 hours of taking custody, according to the suspension documents.
