Instead, the media was interested in the dark history behind the town's funeral home, Sunset Mesa. Learn more about Colorado true crime stories in the gallery below. Both Reh and Cavanagh said they want to get the ashes analyzed at the University of Colorado to see if they actually belong to their babies. . . A woman is among more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, after finding out her husband's body parts had been sold without her consent. The news agency had also sent written questions to Hess and her attorney about Kochs alleged handling of gold teeth. At the nursing home, Eberspacher said she reminded Koch that the glass eye was supposed to be returned and suggested it be popped out there. The back of the brochure featured the logo Donate Life, the national brand that promotes organ donation and is managed by Donate Life America, a nonprofit group. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. After an extensive investigation into this and dozens of similar cases, federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the owners of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, on suspicion of illegally brokering the body parts of deceased individuals they were hired to cremate. On at least three occasions, Staci Kent allegedly responded to calls from law enforcement requesting a coroner at a death scene, according to the indictment. Ive been violated, said Alena Holloman. Denver attorneys Mike Berg and Dave Teselle now represent more than 50 families who claim Hess and her parents victimized them. The name of the state is derived form the Spanish . In at least dozens of instances, Hess and Koch did not follow family wishes, and neither discussed nor obtained authorization for Donor Services to transfer decedents' bodies or . A human head and spine sold for $850, while a full pelvis all the way to the toes priced out at $2,850. When asked if it contained her husbands cremains, she said, I dont know.. During her speech at Diamond's funeral, her partner in crime, Silk, implied that there was foul play involved in her death and urged for an investigation. In Colorado and most other states, it's legal for funeral homes to sell items taken from corpses, including the gold found in teeth. There are no ethics there when you do that. Sam Tabachnik is a roving reporter for The Denver Post, focusing on stories outside metro Denver. Hancocks story started after her husband, Thomas, passed away. At Sunset Mesa, Hess charged $1,995 for a simple burial and $695 for a basic cremation, according to price lists reviewed by Reuters. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Former workers told Reuters that Hess and Koch conducted unauthorized dismemberments of bodies, and a few weeks after a 2018 story was published, the FBI raided the business. There is also evidence of Donor Services shipping at least 26 boxes containing body parts to various parts of the world in 2016 according to evidence that has been recovered. You are looking at how to make money.. A price list uncovered during an ongoing lawsuit against an Arizona body broker provides insight into the value of body parts and the profits that can be produced. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. On March 17, the unsealed indictment revealed that this donor services business would harvest the human remains and then sell them, illegally and without the families' knowledge. Golden Gate's owner denies all allegations. This comes after a dozen . Reuters began examining the Hess companies more than a year ago as part of the news agencys exploration of the human body trade, a virtually unregulated industry that largely operates in the shadows. In mid-November, she wrote an email to a surgical training company saying that she could supply a human torso, according to messages reviewed by Reuters. On Oct. 2, the Lake and Eagle county sheriffs departments executed a search warrant at the Bailey-Kent Funeral Home in Leadville, where deputies encountered a strong odor of decomposition, according to an Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by the states Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration, before finding: In addition to the Leadville funeral home, the state issued suspension orders for the Kent Funeral Home Gypsum. John Wayne Gacy House: Now. High Country News reports that, duringthe initial investigation, the FBI tested 128 samples of remains tied to Sunset Mesa. Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is accused of a range of misdeeds, from not embalming or refrigerating bodies in a . Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. A funeral director who also works as a body broker could have a financial incentive to sell a body for its valuable parts rather than provide an inexpensive burial, for instance. At Donor Services, her body parts business, Hess can generate a greater return on the dead, a different price list reviewed by Reuters showed. Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday in Grand Junction, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Members of the FBI, along with Montrose law enforcement investigate the Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building Tuesday morning, February 6, 2018. The body was identified by fingerprints as Victor Akubuo, 42, from Southern . Both Hess and Koch originally had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The judge ordered that Hess and Koch be sent to prison immediately. A spokeswoman for Donate LifeAmerica said in an email that Hesss firm is not a federally designated organ procurement organization and has no permission to use the Donate Life brand. Colorado regulators can now inspect funeral homes and crematories without owners' permission The state has long had some of the laxest laws in the nation surrounding funeral homes Joe. My mother and my mothers body has been desecrated.. It described a body broker as a company that acquires dead bodies, dissects them and sells the parts for profit to medical researchers, training organizations and other buyers.. I didnt believe in depression until I lost my baby, Cavanagh said. A Medical Examiner can often discover hidden evidence of injury to explain a sudden death, or can document natural diseases to show that no foul play was involved in the death. All rights reserved. He would not discuss the nature of those complaints or any action it may be taking. Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, and her parents are now under investigation by the FBI. Its a profit business. In Colorado, there are few regulations to catch shoddy behavior, such as illegitimate body trading, by mortuaries. The Bailey-Kent Funeral Home was the only option given to her for cremation under a certain weight, she said. The Green Funeral. Market data provided by Factset. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The gruesome details of the case which authorities say included more than 500 victims drew international attention and shined a light on the . Reuters identified 34 body brokers that have been active across the United States during the past five years. The NBC10 Investigators found bodies inside an unlicensed funeral home in Chester, Pennsylvania. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems,Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Ariz., and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association, said. 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He had been dismembered. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. Colorado does not regulate body brokers. A judge sentenced a Colorado funeral-home owner who carved up corpses and sold parts of them without families' permission to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice. Hess runs Sunset Mesa, a funeral home, and Donor Services, a body broker operation from the same building in Montrose. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. The surgical-training companies and other firms which bought the arms, legs, heads and torsos from Hess did not know they had been fraudulently obtained, prosecutors said. The confrontation escalated when Shannon Kent allegedly called Lake County Sheriff Amy Reyes and threatened her with arrest for questioning his wifes decision not to use the body bag, prosecutors said. This whole situation, oh, I thought it was part of my past.. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. All they got was the urn and a death certificate no other paperwork. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. MONTROSE, Colo. A Colorado funeral home is accused of victimizing families after claims that it secretly sold body parts in the hours after death. The Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services building in Montrose, Colorado, U.S., December 16, 2017. 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MONTROSE, Colorado The Federal Bureau of Investigation is interviewing former employees of a funeral home whose owner runs a side business on the same premises selling human body parts. Instead of paying the standard $695 cremation fee to Colorado Cremation, Hesss former cremation marketing business, Dunlap paid Hess $495 to take his body. In another call two months later, Staci Kent responded to a death scene without a body bag, the indictment states, which led to an argument with law enforcement. Reuters could find no other operation active in the United States that houses a funeral home, crematory and body broker in the same facility and under the same ownership. In mid-March, Kent received a letter of admonition" from the Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration after unembalmed, unrefrigerated remains were found in the Gypsum funeral home over 24 hours after the person had died. That means almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human remains. Hess' lawyer said she has been unfairly vilified as a "witch," a "monster" and a "ghoul," when instead she is a "broken human being" whose conduct can be attributed to a traumatic brain injury at age 18. One of Hesss donors was Rex Dunlap, a frugal Coloradan battling brain cancer. "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous. Holloman now deals with the guilt of knowing details of what happened to her moms body. Email: newsroom@coloradosun.com These illegitimate businesses are buying and selling body parts just like anything off the shelf at Walmart, added Teselle. DALLAS The Texas Funeral Service Commission says it has opened an investigation into allegations of the mishandling of corpses at one of the most high-profile mortuaries in the state. Legal Statement. Drop us a note at tips@coloradosun.com. Funeral Director Daily take: I have a hard time fathoming what may have went on at this funeral home. Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. Kent has not yet been arrested for the most recent incidents, which at the Leadville funeral home included authorities' discovery of an abandoned stillborn, according to the Oct. 13 summary suspension issued by Colorados Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration. Prosecutors said she lied to more than 200 families, who received cremated ashes from bins mixed with the remains of different cadavers. Megan Hess, 46, operated the Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose, Colorado, alongside a body-parts entity called Donor Services, where she undertook the grisly scheme, starting in 2010. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains. But it provided an important public service, she said. But no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. The Daily Sentinel Megan Hess The attorney, Carol Viner, asked Reuters to refrain from contacting Hess employees for any reason.. NBC10 . Market data provided by Factset. Now the women wonder how many others might have had the same experience. We were greeted at the door by her father, who told us to leave the property. Investigation into the allegations are ongoing with the Texas Funeral Services . Bailey-Kent Funeral Home, pictured at left, is one of two funeral homes owned by Shannon Kent now under criminal investigation. Some former staff members of Sunset Mesa said they never heard Hess disclose to donors that the bodies would be sold for profit. Like many, Hanson found out about her son Frederick during a phone call from an FBI agent. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 4th 2023 at 10:30 AM at the First Church of the Nazarene (505 E Beatty Ave, Yuma, CO 80759). The lawsuit estimates the three were making $40,000 a month from the sale of body parts. In court on Tuesday, Hess declined to speak to the judge. The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems, said Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Arizona, and former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association. They both plan to file complaints with the Department of Regulatory Affairs. The state's Department of Regulatory Agencies. The recent parade of early deaths has hit close to home. Sunset Mesa, like all other funeral homes in Colorado, is required by state law to have a death certificate filed with the vital records office before obtaining a disposition permit. Hes already facing charges of official misconduct and perjury stemming from allegations last year that he sent his wife Staci to multiple death scenes even though she wasnt authorized to serve as a deputy coroner. Could, Lake County coroner turns in resignation letter, State suspends operations of Leadville, Gypsum funeral homes, 3 BULLETS TO THE BACK: The striking silence around a police, Last Season Hunters Harvested the Most Bucks in 21 Years | Outdoor Life, Republicans are barring medical boards from punishing doctors who prescribe ivermectin: report | Salon.com, Mead High School student gets musical Make-A-Wish surprise, Bruce Cassidy Defends Tuukka Rask After Tough Showing Vs. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Just about any adult can run for coroner in Colorado. Chantal Reh. No one would pick up the phone. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Megan Hess, 46, pleaded guilty to fraud in July 2022 after a 2018 investigation that exposed her for selling parts of dead bodies that were brought to the funeral home for cremation. Sunset Mesas operators, Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, were indicted by a federal grand jury in March for allegedly shipping body parts all over the world against the will of family members, who found out years later that the ashes in their homes were not those of their loved ones. According to Reuters Sunset Mesa Funeral Home had seen their call volume increase from 59 in 2015 to 128 in 2017. . Take a look at some of Colorado's most notorious crimes. E.W. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). I know these are not his ashes because his body parts went all over the country, Hanson said. Pictures show bodies stacked in hallways and unrefrigerated rental trucks. A change of plea hearing for Koch is scheduled for July 12.