Police said on Friday they had found at least 115 bodies at a Colorado ‘green’ funeral home under investigation for improper handling of bodies.
Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said they are coordinating with other agencies to determine if there was any wrongdoing.
The Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, performs “green” burials without chemical embalming or vaults.
The investigation focused on the building belonging to the funeral home where local residents reported smelling a foul smell before the police got involved.
Deputies were called to the one-story building Tuesday night in reference to suspicious activity. Fremont County Sheriff’s Office investigators returned the next day with a search warrant and found the body improperly stored.
Authorities said at a press conference on Friday that they believe there is no health risk to the public at this time.
They declined to describe in detail the scene inside the 2,500-square-foot (232 square meter) facility next to the city’s post office, the size of a typical US home.
Police said on Friday they had found at least 115 bodies at a Colorado ‘green’ funeral home under investigation for improper handling of bodies.AP
“It is not clear whether a crime has been committed, that is the focus of the investigation at the state and federal level,” said FBI spokeswoman Vikki Migoya.
Investigators have been in contact with the funeral home operator and they are cooperating, Cooper said.
Penrose is a town of about 3,000 people.
The investigation is focused on a building belonging to a funeral home where local residents reported smelling a foul odor.AP Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said they are coordinating with other agencies to determine if there was any wrongdoing.AP
Garbage bags can be seen outside the entrance of the company building, with two enforcement vehicles parked out front. Yellow police tape surrounded the area and a stench filled the air.
A hearse was parked behind the building, in a weedy parking lot.
Near the slums there was a post office and a few scattered houses, spaced between dry grass and empty lots with parked semi-trucks.
Under Colorado law, green burials are legal but state code requires that any body not buried within 24 hours must be properly cooled.
Joyce Pavetti, 73, could see the funeral home from the corner of her house and said she had been smelling the stench for the past few weeks.
“We just assumed it was a dead animal,” he said. On Wednesday night, Pavetti said he could see lights from law enforcement swarming around the building and knew something was up.
The building has been occupied by different businesses over the years, said Pavetti, who used to take yoga classes there.
He hadn’t seen anyone in the area recently and only noticed the hearse behind the building in recent months, he said.
Neighbor Ron Alexander thought the smell was coming from a septic tank, adding that the dim lights of law enforcement Wednesday night “looked like the 4th of July.”
Investigators are in contact with the funeral home operator and they are cooperating, Cooper.AP said
The father of a 25-year-old U.S. Navy SEAL who died last summer said Return to Nature handled his son’s remains between his arrival back in Colorado and his Aug. 25 burial at Pikes Peak National Cemetery east of Colorado Springs.
“I mean, there’s obviously a question after hearing that something happened but there’s no information that I can come up with to really make any kind of judgment about it,” said Paul Saito Kahler, of Fountain, Colorado.
The Return to Nature Funeral Home provides burials of unembalmed bodies in biodegradable caskets, shrouds, or “nothing at all,” according to its website.
The Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, performs “green” funerals without chemical embalming or metal caskets.AP
The company also provides cremation services.
A message left for the Colorado Springs-based company was not immediately returned.
“No embalming fluid, no concrete vault. As natural as possible,” he said on his website.
The company charges $1,895 for a “natural burial.” That does not include the cost of caskets and burial spaces, according to the website.
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The funeral home also does cremations that don’t involve chemicals or extraterrestrials — “just you and the Earth, back to nature,” according to its website.
Return to Nature was founded six years ago in Colorado Springs, according to public records.
Fremont County property records show that the funeral home’s building and lot are owned by Hallfordhomes, LLC, a business with a Colorado Springs address that was declared delinquent by the Colorado Secretary of State on Oct. 1 for failing to file a routine reporting form due in late July.
The LLC changed addresses around Colorado Springs three times since its inception in 2016 with post office boxes.
Hallfordhomes still owes about $5,000 in 2022 property taxes on its building in Penrose, according to Fremont County records.
Green burial refers to the burial of a corpse that has not been embalmed.
That’s different from human composting, where the body is placed in a container and turned into soil.
The Return to Nature Funeral Home was licensed in Colorado Springs in 2017.
Under Colorado law, green burials are legal but state code requires that any body not buried within 24 hours must be properly cooled. AP Fremont County, Colo., coroner Randy Keller speaks during a press conference at the funeral home on Friday, Oct. 6. , 2023, in Canon City, Colo.. AP
There are no disciplinary actions against companies listed on the state license database.
There is no separate license for the Penrose facility and it is not known if one is required.
Messages left with the licensing authority were not immediately returned.
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