After nearly 200 bodies were found piled up and decomposing at a Colorado funeral home, lawmakers proposed a bill to overhaul the state’s shoddy funeral home regulations, but some of the bodies A series of gruesome incidents, from the sale of dead bodies to fake human remains, could not be prevented.
This incident destroyed hundreds of families. Many people find that their loved one’s remains are left to rot in a building or, in some cases, in the back of a hearse, rather than being ceremonially spread out or in ashes that have been securely stored for years. I learned that there was.
In response to their plight, the state Legislature on Monday announced bipartisan legislation that would introduce Colorado’s first licensing requirements to become a funeral director, bringing them in line with all other states and even most states. It was decided to introduce licensing regulations that exceed the above. The bill also sets requirements for jobs in other industries, such as embalmers and cremators.
“Too many families in Colorado are faced with the horrifying and unacceptable reality that their loved one’s remains have been mishandled, lost, improperly cared for, sold, or completely disregarded. We had to,” said Democratic state Sen. Dylan Roberts, one of the bill’s sponsors. At a press conference.
“Things are reaching a breaking point,” he said.
This is a dramatic update in a state that does not require funeral directors to graduate from high school. If passed, the bill would require a background check, a mortuary science degree, passing a state exam and an apprenticeship to obtain a license.
In February, just months after 190 bodies were discovered at an insect-infested funeral home two hours south of Denver, the body of Cristina Rosales was also discovered in a separate incident.
Rosales’ body, which was found wrapped in a blanket in a hearse, was only discovered after the owner of the funeral home in suburban Denver was evicted. Rosales died of Alzheimer’s disease at age 63, and her husband, George Rosales, chose her funeral home because she was friends with the operator.
When George Rosales learned that his dead wife’s body had been left on a stretcher in a hearse and someone else’s ashes had been given to him, his heart went out to his two adult children. I tried to hold on to it strongly.
In his private life, on Monday, he said with wet eyes, “I cried many times for her.”
“After 18 months, we thought it was over, but it started all over again,” he said after voting for the bill at a news conference. “If he hadn’t been evicted, I probably would never have known about his wife’s body.”
A second bill to be introduced in Colorado would require regular inspections by regulators, such as after a funeral home’s registration lapses, which occurred at the funeral home employed by George Rosales. Colorado currently lags far behind other states, with many states conducting regular testing every year or every few years.
“We’re currently licensing hairdressers. We’re currently inspecting restaurants. We need to do the same, if not more, for funeral homes. ” said Republican state Rep. Matt Soper, one of the bill’s sponsors.
When the FBI told Shelia Canfield Jones that her daughter’s remains had been found among nearly 200 remains at a facility in Colorado, she sat in disbelief with staff members clutching an urn. Ta. For four years, her mother refused to let go of what she thought were her daughter’s ashes.
Canfield-Jones recalled one officer eventually removing the remains from the urn and repeating, “That’s not your daughter.”
“He had to keep telling us over and over again,” she said in an interview, her eyes watering. “It was scary.”
Canfield-Jones is plagued by nightmares of her daughter’s decomposing body.
The 190 bodies were discovered in a Penrose building last year, and their owners have been arrested and face hundreds of charges, including abuse of corpses. Red flags were raised by the local coroner in 2020, three years before the bodies were discovered.
Joe Walsh, president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association, said his organization supports the bill, but cautioned against believing that these rules will prevent any future incidents.
“Yes, we have our license, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s perfect,” Walsh said. Still, he said it’s an important step to show Colorado residents they can trust the industry and prevent as many bad actors as possible.
“The best way to achieve this is to show that you are improving, adapting, adjusting and overcoming,” he said.
