Rotting bodies, fake ashes and sold body parts push Colorado to patch lax funeral home rules

DENVER (AP) — After nearly 200 bodies were found stacked and rotting in a Colorado funeral home, lawmakers have proposed bills to overhaul the state’s threadbare funeral home regulations, which failed to prevent a string of gruesome cases — from sold body parts to fake ashes.

The cases have shattered hundreds of families. Many learned that their loved ones’ remains weren’t in the ashes they ceremonially spread or held tight for years but were instead decaying in a building or, in one case, the back of hearse.

Their devastation pushed state lawmakers to unveil a bipartisan bill Monday that would implement Colorado’s first licensing requirements to become a funeral home director, bringing licensing rules in line with all other states and even surpassing most. The bill also sets requirements for other industry jobs, including embalmers and cremationists.

“Too many Colorado families have had to face the gruesome and unacceptable reality that their loved ones’ remains had been mishandled, lost, improperly cared for, sold and completely disrespected,” said Democratic Sen. Dylan Roberts, one of the bill’s sponsors, at a press conference.

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