This is a very macabre way to take your work home.
An American funeral director is wanted after the discovery of human remains kept illegally at his home, Colorado police announced Friday.
Cleaners came across the cremated remains of dozens of people after Miles Harford was evicted from his home in Denver, capital of the western US state, in early February.
When police arrived at the scene, they found a hearse containing the body of a 63-year-old woman who had died 18 months earlier, along with more boxes of ashes.
The body had been stored in the vehicle since his death in August 2022, according to the first elements of the investigation.
Miles Harford ran a Denver funeral home, which closed in September 2022.
Weak regulation in Colorado
An arrest warrant has been issued for this 33-year-old man on suspicion of abuse of a corpse, forgery and theft, according to Denver police.
“Investigators have previously been in contact with Mr. Harford – who is believed to be in the Denver area – and are currently working to facilitate his arrest in connection with this arrest warrant,” law enforcement said in their press release.
This sinister news item is not a first in Colorado.
Last year, nearly 200 decomposing bodies were discovered in an abandoned funeral home in the city of Colorado Springs after neighbors complained of a foul odor.
Also read “The smell was unbearable”: in Paris, these residents had to live with a rotting corpse
In 2018, the FBI also arrested the management of a funeral home that sold body parts around the world and deceived grieving families by giving them powdered cement in place of cremated remains.
According to the Denver Post, Colorado is the only state in the United States where funeral directors do not need a license to practice.
The sector is poorly regulated.