Bodies Of 10 Fetuses, Infant Discovered, Police To Charge Funeral Home Owners

The Detroit police said Monday they will file a criminal complaint against the owners of the former funeral home in Michigan where they discovered the bodies of 10 fetuses and an infant hidden inside the facility.

The license of the Cantrell Funeral Home was suspended in April after decomposing embalmed bodies were found among other code violations. The authorities responded to the facility after receiving an anonymous letter, which tipped them off to the hidden bodies.

“They were definitely hidden,” Police Chief James Craig said, Time reported. “The way they were placed in ceiling, one would not have readily discovered them. In 41½ years in policing, this is first time I’ve heard of anything like this.”

The remains were discovered in a decomposed state between the first and second floors of the facility. While the fetuses were found inside a cardboard-like box, the infant was stuffed away in a coffin.

The Wayne County medical examiner’s office said they were working to determine the identities of the victims, which would eventually lead them to the families associated with them. However, the task of doing so was proving to be difficult.

“We have very little to go on (without) cooperation from the funeral home owners. Everything is under investigation,” spokeswoman Lisa Croff said.

No arrests have been made in this case so far.

Spokesman Jason Moon said Monday that Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs was working with the state attorney general to gather information about the Cantrell Funeral Home.

Associated Press said they had been unable to find a telephone number listed under the name of the funeral home’s previous owner, Raymond Cantrell, who ran the facility at the time when its license was suspended.

The suspension order was never appealed, Moon confirmed, adding investigation against the funeral home from earlier this year was still ongoing.

At the time, Cantrell told reporters some of the bodies were stored in the garage “so that we wouldn’t have an aroma filling up the funeral home. If I had them in the funeral home, then my funeral home would not smell fresh.”

Some of the other violations incurred by the facility at the time including storing bodies improperly, which caused at least two bodies to have mold formed on them and another one having unknown fluids covering its facial area.

The facility was also found to have been operating on an expired prepaid funeral and cemetery sales registration. It had neglected to pay for the prepaid funeral goods or services within a month of the receipt being issued.