Police discovered 24 decaying bodies inside The Davis Mortuary, the majority of which they believe died between 2010 and 2012. Just six remains have been identified so far
Families are waiting for information about their late loved ones after authorities discovered 24 decaying bodies, and multiple containers of human remains, stashed away in a hidden room at a funeral home.
The horrific discovery was made at Davis Mortuary in August when staff from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies arrived to inspect the facility for the first time under a new law passed by state legislators.
The mortuary is owned by former Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter and his brother, Chris. He resigned a week after the inspection took place.
So far, six of the 24 recovered bodies have been identified and their families have been notified after what the agency described as a “slow methodical process”.
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CBI Assistant Director of Investigations Clint Thomason said investigators now believe most of the bodies found at Davis Mortuary belong to people who died between 2010 and 2012.
“The remains so far have been in the area between 2010 and 2012 and right now, we’re under the impression, what we believe is, all of the remains are probably going to be from that time period,” he confirmed.
Thomason said that all records from Davis Mortuary are paper-based and that is slowing down the investigation since all reviews must be done manually. It could take months to identify all the remains.
He also confirmed that investigators plan to identify all of the bodies before filing charges. “We’ve been consulting very closely with the district attorney and we’ve made a deliberate decision to not file piecemeal file charges,” Thomason said. “We want to try to file all the charges that we can at one time. We believe that’s going to be the best way to handle this case and to deliver the justice that needs to be done.”
The CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) said it will continue the identification process of the remaining 18 bodies using dental records, fingerprints, and DNA analysis.
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A man has since come forward to reveal that his granddaughter was one of the 24 bodies found inside Davis Mortuary.
John Cordova’s daughter tragically lost her baby in 2012, the family consulted Davis Mortuary to cremate the baby, he told 11 News.
Now, 13 years later, Cordova said old wounds are opening back up after the CBI contacted the family, telling them investigators were ‘positive’ one of the 24 bodies found improperly disposed of inside the funeral home was the baby.
Cordova told 11 News there are many questions they’re asking now that they know the truth. “Not knowing what was in that urn that they gave us,” he said, “that’s a big question that we’re just wondering why and what.”
“I thought I could believe in them, trust in them, and evidently I was wrong,” Cordova added. “It’s not over. This is just the beginning. What they did to my family was wrong.”
The CBI have not confirmed the names or ages of anyone whose remains have been identified so far.