After 189 bodies were found in Colorado funeral home, evidence suggests families received fake ashes

By JESSE BEDAYN and MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press/Report for America

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Several families who sent loved ones to a Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were discovered fear they were given fake ashes. Death certificates and other evidence collected by The Associated Press suggests their loved ones weren’t cremated as claimed. They could instead be among the corpses authorities are trying to identify. Return to Nature Funeral Home gave families death certificates stating their loved ones’ remains had been handled by two crematories that told the AP this week that they were not performing cremation services for Return to Nature when the death certificates were received.