At least 115 bodies found at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home
Police said on Friday they have found at least 115 bodies at a Colorado socalled “green” funeral home under investigation for improper handling of remains.
The Fremont county sheriff, Allen Cooper, said they are coordinating with other agencies to determine if there is any wrongdoing.
The Return to Nature funeral home in Penrose, Colorado, performed “green” burials without embalming chemicals or metal caskets.
The investigation centered on a building owned by the funeral home where local residents reported smelling a foul stench before police became involved.
Deputies were called to the building on Tuesday night and sheriff’s investigators returned the next day with a search warrant and found the improperly stored remains.
Authorities said on Friday at a press conference that they believe there is currently no health risk to the public.
Penrose is a town of about 3,000 people in the mountains west of Colorado Springs.
Trash bags could be seen on Thursday outside the entrance of the company’s building and it was cordoned off, while a putrid odor pervaded.
A hearse was parked at the back of the building, in a parking lot overgrown with weeds. Under Colorado law, green burials are legal but state code requires that any body not buried within 24 hours must be properly refrigerated.
Joyce Pavetti, 73, can see the funeral home from the stoop of her house and said she caught whiffs of a putrid smell in the last few weeks.
“We just assumed it was a dead animal,” she said. On Wednesday night, Pavetti said she could see lights from law enforcement swarming around the building and knew something was going on. Neighbor Ron Alexander thought the smell was coming from a septic tank.
The Return to Nature Funeral Home provides burial of nonembalmed bodies in biodegradable caskets, shrouds or “nothing at all,” according to its website. The company also provides cremation services. Messages left for the Colorado Springsbased company were not immediately returned.
“No embalming fluids, no concrete vaults. As natural as possible,” it says on its website. The company charges from $1,895 for a “natural burial.”
Return to Nature was established six years ago in Colorado Springs and owned by owned by Hallfordhomes LLC, according to public records.
A green burial refers to burying bodies that have not been embalmed, as different from human composting, in which the body is placed in a vessel and transformed into soil.