grass
Police told reporters the human remains were discovered during an eviction at a home in southwest Denver.
CNN
—
A former funeral director is facing multiple charges after a woman's body and the cremated remains of at least 30 people were discovered in a Denver, Colorado, home last week, police said.
Denver police said in a news conference Friday that the homeowners discovered several boxes containing cremated remains while removing the tenant's belongings from the property on Feb. 6.
Police Chief Matt Clark told reporters that the Denver Sheriff's Department issued an eviction order at the address and that deputies were on hand when the homeowners discovered the body in the loitering area. .
Investigators from the Denver Police Department and the coroner's office went to the home to examine and recover the body, Clark said.
The tenant also had a broken-down hearse in the backyard of the house. When the car was towed onto the road, investigators found an additional urn and the woman's body wrapped in a blanket in the back of the car, Clark said.
The coroner's team confirmed the body was that of a 63-year-old woman who died in August 2022, the police commander said.
“Through the investigation, detectives determined that the woman's body was likely stored and hidden in the hearse shortly after her death,” Clark said.
Clark said police contacted the woman's family and were told they had previously received remains believed to be that of their loved one from a funeral home.
Authorities identified the home's tenant as Miles Harford, 33, who operated Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services in Littleton, Colorado from 2012 to 2022.
Clark said warrants were issued for Harford's arrest on charges of abuse of a corpse, falsification of public documents and theft.
Clark said Harford is cooperating with the investigation and “admits that he was unable to locate a crematorium to dispose of the woman's body.”
Mr Clark said: “Mr Harford appears to have incurred significant debts at several crematoriums in the metropolitan area,'' and “was unable to complete the cremation that the woman's family had previously arranged.'' ” he said.
According to the police chief, the suspect placed the woman's body in a hearse and gave the remains of another person to her family.
CNN has reached out to Harford for comment.
grass
Commander Matt Clark of the Denver Police Department's Major Crimes Unit addresses the media on February 16th.
Investigators also searched a U-Haul vehicle in front of the home and found six more urns containing cremated remains, police said.
“All of the recovered remains appear to be related to individuals who died between 2012 and 2021,” Clark said.
“Mr. Harford may have occasionally provided cremated remains of others to families in place of their own to enable funerals to be held,” Clark said. “Through our conversations with families, it became clear that many are experiencing delays in obtaining cremated remains from Apollo and Harford, including jewelry containing the ashes of a loved one. Some people were expecting it but didn't receive it.”
Clark said authorities have made contact with Harford, who is believed to be in the Denver metropolitan area, and are working to arrest him.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said at a press conference Friday that Harford could face up to three years in prison if convicted, pending a police investigation. He added that further charges could be filed.
“This is an exceptional situation and we intend to prosecute Mr Harford fully once he is arrested,” Mr McCann said.
Police Department Chief of Investigations Rick Kyle said police are working to assist the families affected by the discovery of the body.
“Losing a loved one is hard enough, but when a loved one's remains are mishandled, it only adds to the grief and causes more unnecessary pain,” he says.
Mr Clark said police had not yet been able to contact some of the affected families.
He said it would be difficult to obtain viable DNA samples from cremated bodies and police would not use DNA testing to identify them. He noted that some of the bodies had identification tags attached to them.
A hotline has been set up for concerned families, he said.
Clark said the incident does not appear to be related to another recent incident in Fremont County, Colorado. The funeral home's owners were arrested in November after the discovery of 190 bodies that authorities said had been “improperly stored.” their business.
