State investigators now know the names of 18 people whose remains were left to decompose in a hidden back room of a Pueblo mortuary for over a decade, Colorado Bureau of Investigation officials said Wednesday.
All of the remains identified from Davis Mortuary so far are from people who died between 2010 and 2012, the CBI said in a news release. The remains of six people are still unidentified, and investigators continue to use forensic genetic genealogy — working with a private lab to match DNA to public databases and find distant relatives — to try to identify them, a necessity because of the lack of mortuary records, the poor condition of the remains and degraded DNA.
State inspectors found the room of human remains at Davis Mortuary in August during their first inspection of the facility after state lawmakers strengthened Colorado’s funeral home regulations in the wake of other, similar scandals on the Western Slope, in Penrose and metro Denver.
The CBI is still investigating “multiple containers of bones, cremains and probable human tissue representing an unknown number of deceased individuals” that were also found at the mortuary.
Davis Mortuary was owned and operated by then-coroner Brian Cotter and his brother, Chris Cotter. Brian Cotter stepped down after dozens of state and local officials called for his resignation in the wake of the scandal, but neither man is currently facing criminal charges in the case.
Pueblo County District Attorney Kala Beauvais has previously said she will not consider charges until the CBI’s investigation is complete, which includes identifying all of the bodies.
On Wednesday, CBI officials said the agency has “worked in concert with the 10th Judicial District Attorney’s Office every step of the way in this complex investigation.”
“The case information will be presented to the District Attorney’s office for review and filing of charges,” agency officials said.
While Brian Cotter initially told state inspectors the 24 bodies were awaiting cremation, he later said some had been in the room for 15 years and said he may have given families fake cremains.
Other Colorado funeral home owners accused of mishandling human remains in recent years are now serving time in prison, including Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors mother-daughter team Megan Hess and Shirley Koch. The pair pleaded guilty to mail fraud after investigators found they harvested and sold parts from hundreds of bodies without the knowledge or consent of families.
