Inspection Reveals 20 Decomposing Bodies in Colorado Coroner’s Hidden Room

Less than two years after nearly 200 decomposing bodies were found in a Penrose, Colorado funeral home, state inspectors have discovered a heartbreakingly similar situation in a facility privately operated by the Pueblo County, Colorado coroner. After noticing a foul odor during an annual inspection of Davis Mortuary in Pueblo on August 20, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) authorities opened a hidden door and found at least 20 bodies — some of which have been in storage for up to 15 years.

License has been suspended

According to multiple reports, three-term Pueblo County coroner and Davis Mortuary owner Brian Cotter has not yet been arrested and seems to be cooperating with authorities. He has admitted that some of the bodies have been in the room, the door to which was concealed by a cardboard display, since 2010 — five years before Cotter was first elected to the position of coroner.

“Upon entering the room behind the display, the inspectors found several bodies in various stages of decomposition,” DORA officials told The Pueblo Chieftain. “The appointed designee for the funeral home, Brian Cotter, told inspectors that the bodies were awaiting cremation and admitted that some bodies had been in the room for approximately 15 years. He also admitted that he may have issued next-of-kin fake cremains.”

DORA’s Office of Funeral and Mortuary Science Services suspended the license of Davis Mortuary on August 21, announcing that although DORA and the Pueblo Police Department will remain involved in the investigation, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will take the lead — just as they did with the Penrose Return to Nature Funeral Home case in October 2023. 

New regulations in action

It was the horrific Return to Nature discovery, which was precluded by several other high-profile funeral home and crematory scandals across the state, that finally led Colorado lawmakers to review their deathcare regulations, which had long been considered the most lax in the country. 

On May 24, 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill HB24-1335 into law, giving DORA the authority to conduct scheduled routine inspections, even outside of business hours, in addition to strengthening licensing requirements for deathcare professionals and regulating relationships with body brokers. 

The August 20 inspection of Davis Mortuary was the first ever conducted at the facility.

On August 22, Gov. Polis declared a “disaster emergency” to mobilize the state’s mitigation and investigation resources to support the authorities in Pueblo County. He also openly called for Cotter’s resignation from his coroner position.

“I’m sickened for the families of the loved ones who are impacted by this unacceptable misconduct,” said Gov. Polis in a statement on the Colorado.gov website. “It is clear public trust has been lost and Mr. Cotter must resign as the Pueblo County Coroner immediately. He should be investigated and if warranted, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No one should ever have to wonder if their loved one is being taken care of with dignity and respect after they’ve passed, and Mr. Cotter must be held to account for his actions.”

Families are distraught

The exact number of bodies being stored in the unrefrigerated room has not been positively ascertained, nor have identifications been determined or shared with the families who entrusted their loved ones to Cotter and his employees over the last 15 years. Of course, those families are now questioning every aspect of their interaction with Davis Mortuary.

When former pathologist Patty Emerson lost her husband, Mel, in 2011, she selected Davis Mortuary to handle his cremation because of her longstanding working relationship with Brian Cotter and his brother. Emerson told CBS News that she is now “fearing the worst.”

“He could be one of those identified that’s been in this room decomposing all these years, and that is absolutely horrifying to me,” she said. “My second biggest fear is that the remains I have aren’t even his.”

Deathcare Docket: Legal Updates on Four Separate Allegations of Neglected Bodies

Deathcare dominated the headlines once again last week as not one, not two, but four separate, but equally egregious and/or perplexing, cases of funeral directors or owners accused of abandoning or neglecting the bodies placed in their care.

Hallfords change their pleas

Last fall, Jon and Carie Hallford both accepted guilty pleas to federal fraud charges connected to the 2023 discovery of 191 decomposing bodies at Return to Nature green funeral home in Penrose, Colorado. Now, Carie has withdrawn her guilty plea and will take her chances at an April 14 trial rather than the maximum 15-year sentence that was recommended. In the meantime, her husband Jon has accepted a new plea deal that “doesn’t bind the state to sentencing terms,” meaning the judge could sentence him to more than 15 years in prison.

Police investigating Heaven Bound

The Charles County, Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office has asked state police to investigate Heaven Bound Cremation Services to determine if criminal charges are in order. The crematorium was shut down in January after inspections by the state’s Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors found multiple infractions, including stacked bodies, unsanitary conditions, and an inoperable retort. In the meantime, the governor has ordered an in-depth review of the board, and a bill that would force the board to adopt stricter regulations has been introduced.

Chicago crematory voluntarily halts operations

The owner of Heights Crematory in Chicago has voluntarily shut down operations while Illinois authorities work to determine why bodies were being improperly stored in a trailer. The bodies, which were “partially wrapped in sheets and clear plastic bags, with their faces and body parts sticking out,” were photographed and shared by CBS News Chicago. State regulators are overseeing the cremation of the bodies that were discovered, and Heights is no longer accepting bodies from other funeral homes for cremation. CBS News Chicago also reports that the company is in serious financial trouble, and that regulators have previously cited the crematory after finding “six to seven bodies waiting to be cremated on [the] main floor.”

Case against Florida director continued

Elliott Graham, a former Jacksonville, Florida funeral director who is facing 10 felony charges of misusing $90k in funeral funds and abandoning bodies for months in a building with no power, appeared in court last week and was granted a continuance until March 26. The January 2024 discovery of the conditions at Marion Graham Mortuary prompted Governor Ron DeSantis to sign a bill into law last year to give the state “more authority to investigate derelict funeral homes.”

Georgia Funeral Home Eviction Uncovers 18 Decomposing Bodies; Owner Charged With Felonies

A Georgia funeral home owner has been arrested on 17 counts of abuse of a dead body after authorities serving an eviction notice found 18 bodies in various states of decomposition. Two deceased pets were also discovered.

On Saturday, October 26, members of the Coffee County, Georgia Sheriff’s Offices intended to serve an eviction notice at Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services in Douglas, Georgia, which is a little over three hours south of Atlanta. Agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) were on hand to assist in the process, and immediately opened an investigation after making the gruesome discovery.

Based on their findings, the GBI arrested the funeral home’s owner, Chris Johnson, 39, and charged him with 17 counts of abuse of a dead body. The arrest was made on Sunday, October 27 at Johnson’s home.

“It’s obviously a terrible case,” Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, told Atlanta News First. Sterling’s office provides administrative support for the Georgia State Board of Funeral Service.

 “His license lapsed for a period of time this year and then he reinstated his funeral director’s license and his embalmer’s license. The facility license was still not renewed.”

According to Atlanta News First, Johnson ran unsuccessfully to become the Coffee County coroner this year, and his business was not a member of the Georgia Funeral Directors Association. DouglasNews.com adds that Johnson had “been the subject of an investigation for quite some time.” 

That outlet said Johnson was “in the process of moving” his funeral home to a new location that he was preparing, but was still operating in the facility where the bodies were found, and that “rumblings of various issues” at the funeral home had been circulating “for a long time.”

Families recently served by Johnson shared with local news outlets their frustrations with the funeral director as news of the discovery broke. One family member said they had called “over 50 or 60 times” about the status of certified death certificates, for which they had already paid, and Johnson did not answer or return calls.  Another family member said they knocked on the door of the funeral home over and over — knowing that Johnson was inside, as his car was parked outside — for nearly a year before Johnson finally provided the certificates.

The GBI has provided several methods for families to reach out if they believe their family members may be among the deceased discovered at Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services.

The most recent obituary posted to the funeral home’s website indicates the service and burial took place on October 10, 2024. The website displays only 10 obituaries, with the earliest services being held on May 30 of this year. 

One news outlet explained that one of the 18 bodies discovered on Saturday had not been in the funeral home long enough for charges to be filed, thus Johnson has only been charged with 17 felony counts. His bond has been denied and he is being held in Coffee County jail.

What happens when deceased human remains remain unclaimed?  In the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador that situation is causing a problem.  According to this article there is no easy solution on the human disposition of deceased human beings who are either unidentified or in a situation that the family does not claim them simply because finances for death care of the relatives is limited.

According to the article from the BBC Canada the morgue at the Health Sciences Center has had to hold the remains in portable freezer containers located outside the morgue building.  At the time of the article it was mentioned that the containers held 28 bodies.

Here’s what the article says about the issue,  “Sources say the situation is growing worse. The morgue has had bodies piled up two per stretcher and in the hallways. The cold storage units have never been this full.

And as prices rise across the board, Newfoundland and Labrador’s population grows older. About 5,500 people die here every year. As more people can’t afford to claim the remains, the province’s solution is the (portable) freezer units.”

Because of laws that don’t specifically give the authorities the ability to take care of the disposition of these remains, the situation continues to cause a problem.  Here’s what the article says of that:

• Current laws don’t fully cover death by natural causes or lay out who has the authority to dispose of bodies. 
• There are also no potter’s fields — or common graves — to bury unknown and unclaimed bodies.
• That leaves the bodies in limbo, since if N.L. Health Services were to unilaterally decide to cremate a body, it’s possible a relative might come forward after the fact to claim that’s not what the person wanted. 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is a tough situation to deal with and I sympathize with those who have to come up with a solution.  All government entities should be aware of this situation as I can see it happening in the near future in other places, including the United States.

In the USA there seems to be more and more issues with mental health and displaced persons than we have ever dealt with before.  Many of these people may have become dis-engaged from their family over time and at the time of death relatives may not be able to be located to take care of the situation.

In addition, if you believe news reports we have approximately 10 million new people who have came to America in the past four years.  Many of these people may have no relatives in the United States, and little financial support, at this time.  What will happen to those in that cohort that have no relatives here and die in the United States?  Disposition of remains, in that situation, will more than likely be a local  government responsibility – a responsibility that will cost the local government and in reality, local taxpayers.

Finally, what about those whose family may not have a responsibility to cover funeral costs and do not claim the body simply because finances are very limited?  I can envision this happening more often, especially if the default selection is for direct cremation by government authorities and then giving the next of kin the cremated remains.  That position would serve the purpose of the families – cremation – with no out-of-pocket costs.

Final Thought:  As I was writing this piece the famous death care quote of Sir William Gladstone came to mind.  Gladstone served Great Britain in the 19th century as a four-term Prime Minister.  His famous quote, which was on the wall of our funeral home was such:

“Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and their loyalty to high ideals.”

The dignity of human life is important to me. . . and I think to all funeral directors.  With murders, drug overdoses, and suicide deaths all up in America I wonder what we don’t see about the “Value of Life” in our society?  And, is Gladstone right. . . in that how we handle death care reflects on those values, or as he puts it “mercies, respect . . and high ideals”?

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,502 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”