31 bodies, some decomposing, found at Indiana funeral home
FILE PHOTO - An undertaker approaches a cold storage room where remains of COVID-19 patients are stored at the AVBOB mortuary in Soweto, on July 24, 2020. (Photo by Marco Longari / AFP via Getty Images)
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Police are investigating after more than 30 bodies, some decomposing, were found inside a southern Indiana funeral home.
Police in the Louisville suburb of Jeffersonville responded to Lankford Funeral Home and Family Center on Friday evening and found 31 bodies, including some some "in the advanced stages of decomposition," Maj. Isaac Parker said.
He said the county coroner’s office had reported a strong odor emanating from the building. Inside, officers wearing hazmat gear found bodies "in different places around the building." Some of the bodies had been at the funeral home since March, Parker said. Police also found the cremated remains of 16 people.
"It was a very unpleasant scene," Parker said. "The conditions were not good."
The owner of the funeral home has been speaking with police since Friday, Parker said, and an investigation is ongoing.
The owner did not immediately respond to an email from the Associated Press seeking comment Sunday.
The remains were taken to the Clark County Coroner's Office for identification, and police asked anyone who may have information to contact the coroner's office.
A woman who sent her brother's body to the funeral home for cremation after he died in April told WHAS-TV that she is still waiting for his remains. Tara Owen said when she reached out to the funeral director, he responded that he was "dealing with a lot at the moment."