Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Authorities say ashes in four urns cannot be identified

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

What's at Taph?

Taphophilia Home

Thanatology Forums

Taphophile Weblinks

Taph's Article Archive

Contact Deadgirl

Donating to Taphophilia

Book Library

Deadgirl Recommends

Dig Deeper

Literature

Topics at Taphophilia

Deadgirl's Dictionary

Cemetery Photography

Industry News

Carved in Stone

A Taphophilia Thank You...

Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From
its conception and early development, DarkestWeb
was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Cemetery Snapshot

Announcements

Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!

Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Authorities say ashes in four urns cannot be identified

Written by DeadGirl

Monday, 18 April 2005

Authorities say ashes in four urns cannot be identified
April 18, 2005
Associated Press

SEABROOOK, N.H. -- Ashes in four urns seized at anunregistered crematorium in February will probably never be identified, a prosecutor says.

They were among 12 urns seized during a raid at the Bayview
Crematorium in which police also found a decomposing body in a
broken cooler and two sets of remains being cremated in one
oven. A criminal investigation is continuing, but no charges
have been filed.

"We're going to end up with four urns we cannot identify,"
Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams told The Eagle-Tribune of
Lawrence, Mass. "The troopers have gone through all the
paperwork, and they don't think they'll ever be able to
identify them. So we will likely petition the court to bury
them."

Investigators don't know whether the ashes are from whole
bodies or tissues the crematorium disposed of for hospitals.

Meanwhile, health officials plan to go through death records
to try to verify identifications of ashes received by families
from Bayview before it was closed down. That was a common
question from many of about 225 families who called a state
hotline after the raid.

Dr. William Kassler, the state medical director, said he hopes
a task force he leads will be able give the public "a level of
reassurance" that they received the right remains.

Kassler said families will soon receive a letter from the
state informing them that many of the records he needs are
impounded as part of the criminal investigation of Bayview.

Thousands of Massachusetts and New Hampshire residents were
left to wonder when Reams said in February he could not assure
that families that used Bayview got the right ashes.

Bayview's lawyer, Gerard LaFlamme Jr. of Haverhill, Mass.,
said owner Larry Stokes was not aware of any wrongdoing in the
handling of bodies.

"As far as the day-to-day operations go, Larry Stokes is in
Florida from the fall to early summer," LaFlamme said. "He is
not there to monitor what goes on there. It's premature to
comment on all the hysteria about Bayview crematory."

Stokes has been cooperating and plans to meet with state
police detectives when he returns from his winter home in
Florida later this month, LaFlamme said.

"Mr. Stokes doesn't have anything to hide," he said.

Kassler said trying to trace death records of people who died
years ago may not be easy.

"After remains are cremated, there's no DNA," Kassler said.
"So what we're doing is looking at paperwork and ID tags that
may have gone along with the remains."

The paperwork consists mostly of cremation forms, copies of
which are supposed to be filed with the town, the state
medical examiner's office and the crematorium.

A criminal investigation into two former medical examiners
revealed that some certificates dating back to the early 1990s
were missing from the medical examiner's office. Police found
an undisclosed number of them at the home of the state's
former chief forensic investigator, Kathrine Wieder, during a
police raid of her Newburyport, Mass., home late last year,
according to court records.

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

SEO by Artio

Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries