Marin decedents among remains found at crematory's warehouse

The bodies of six people and the cremated remains of 154 others have been recovered from a former Bay Area crematorium that had its license suspended, authorities said.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office said it is seeking help in reuniting the cremated remains, and one of the bodies, with their families.

The cremated remains included nine Marin County residents, said sheriff's Lt. Tya Modeste.

The remains were associated with Oceanview Cremations in Hayward.

“The business had a corporation and an individual license under the same name,” Modeste said Monday.

“The corporation was suspended in 2018, and the Hayward business was suspended in 2022.”

On Feb. 28, the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau Homepage notified that Alameda County Coroner's Bureau about the business suspension. The funeral board said the business continued to operate despite the suspension.

The bodies authorities are trying to reunite with families came to the business between 2013 and 2021. Modeste said the bodies and remains were kept at a warehouse that was unauthorized to store remains.

Five of the six non-cremated bodies were identified. Five were from Alameda County and the sixth from Sonoma County, she said. All six died between 2020 and 2021.

Authorities could not identify one of them, because Oceanview Cremations owner Robert Smith was unable to produce any viable information about the location of death or the next of kin, Modeste said.

Grissom's Mortuary, a funeral home that has contracted with Alameda County, has taken over control of the bodies and remains, according to Modeste.

Aside from the cremated remains of Marin residents, 64 were Alameda County residents, 23 were from San Francisco County, 15 from San Mateo County, 10 from Contra Costa County and nine from Santa Clara County. The rest were from Santa Cruz, Solano, Napa, Stanislaus, Sonoma, San Joaquin, Fresno, Placer and Sacramento counties.

Smith could not be reached for comment Monday.

The sheriff's office encouraged anyone who used Oceanview Cremations between 2013 and 2022 to arrange a cremation to call the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau at 510-3823000.

“The Coroner's Bureau has started to receive calls, and arrangements are being made for those families they have reached,” Modeste said.