Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. Read on to see why: At a glance, the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home appeared to be a business helping locals through the loss of their loved ones. Funeral home owner who dismembered corpses, sold body parts sentenced Funeral home remains under federal investigation A woman is among more than five dozen family members currently suing the family that operated the now shut-down Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, after finding out her husband's body parts had been sold without her consent. DENVER, Colorado - A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 . The states Department of Regulatory Agencies said it has nine open complaints about Sunset Mesa higher than average for funeral homes in the state, said spokesman Lee Rasizer. DALLAS The Texas Funeral Service Commission says it has opened an investigation into allegations of the mishandling of corpses at one of the most high-profile mortuaries in the state. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling A judge sentenced a Colorado funeral-home owner who carved up corpses and sold parts of them without families' permission to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice. Finally, after a month, she got Staci Kent on the phone and laid into her, asking why she hadnt heard anything about her sons cremains. But experts say its the underground black market that also contributes to the increased demand for body parts. Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling Escher said Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, pulled teeth from some of the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. We were greeted at the door by her father, who told us to leave the property. In cases like Schum's, where a family did agree to donate a body part, Hess sold more than she had permission to. After receiving the cremains, E.W. Along with it would be a note reading: Heres looking at you. The rest of his ashes would be buried with Dunlaps mother in Denver. Hansons box included wires and what appear to be old batteries. As a matter of fact, the FBI has set up a hot line and e-mail address for potential victims of the businesses to contact with information. Before he died in 2016, the 78-year-old retired contractor saved $200 on cremation by agreeing to pledge parts of his body to Donor Services. Both Reh and Cavanagh said they want to get the ashes analyzed at the University of Colorado to see if they actually belong to their babies. Funeral homes in Leadville and Gypsum are under criminal investigation after authorities this month found an unrefrigerated body, bags of unlabeled cremains, an abandoned stillborn infant. With a population of about 20,000, Montrose is a community surrounded by the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, the attention wasn't focused on the town's natural beauty or tourism opportunities. Hess committed crimes, prosecutors said, when she defrauded relatives of the deceased by lying about cremations and by dissecting bodies and selling them without permission. ", Tina Shanon, whose mother was dismembered against her will, told the court, "I've worn many masks to cover the pain. I'll never be OK.". It is illegal in the United States to sell organs such as hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant; they must be donated. The legislation has support from the state's largest trade association for funeral homes, the Colorado Funeral Directors Association. A state investigation by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance now focuses on a Memphis funeral home that's also the focus of a Netflix reality show. Why Donor Services was unable to trace Dunlaps head remains unclear. The ex-employee said that she witnessed a collection of gold teeth that Hess mother allegedly extracted from the corpses fillings or crowns and that the familycashed in on the gold to pay for a trip to Disneyland in California. This is a way we can eliminate or alleviate the black market on body parts, Crowder added. In 2009, Hess also created a nonprofit called Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation, d/b/a Donor Services, a body broker service operated out of the same location as SMFD. Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose handled the funeral . Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling I go to sleep with the visions of him being dismembered with a power saw, said Ruthie Pettyjohn, whose sons body parts were allegedly sold. DENVER -- To many it is simply the unthinkable. It can't be fixed, said Hancock. An indictment filed last week by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver alleges 43-year-old Megan Hess, of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, harvested body parts from hundreds of dead people without any authorization from their families. Buyers ranged from educators and scientists to individuals in the medical industry. felt they were too heavy to be those of a stillborn child, and submitted them for analysis. (Reuters) -A former Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for defrauding relatives of the dead by dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts. The owner of the funeral homes, Shannon Kent, is also Lake Countys coroner. Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway's Cause of Death Revealed Two months later, after hearing nothing from Hess, Schum went to Sunset Mesa to retrieve her friend's ashes. Hess' mother, Shirley Koch, has also been indicted. In 2020, authorities charged the two with mail fraud and illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Bankman-Fried can have flip phone, limited internet while on bail, US proposes, Biden assembles team of allies to boost re-election campaign, Reporting by John Shiffman; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Chang, Michigan judge dismisses school staff as defendants in lawsuits over mass shooting, American Airlines, flight attendants union seek mediation in contract negotiations, Macron ends Africa tour with wish for fair reset of ties, Turkey's Erdogan dismisses opposition split and says his ruling alliance will stay on same path, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party calls for opposition unity after split, In Turkey's quake-devasted city of Antakya, an antiques seller is determined to stay put, Eni agrees deal with UAE's ADNOC as Italy rebuilds relationship, Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals. Take a look at some of Colorado's most notorious crimes. Funeral homes owned by a Colorado coroner under investigation following "We don't even have a name for a crime this heinous. Coroner and Wife Accused of Running Funeral Home From Hell Twenty-five of the brokers were for-profit corporations. After an extensive investigation into this and dozens of similar cases, federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the owners of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado, on suspicion of illegally brokering the body parts of deceased individuals they were hired to cremate. In Colorado, the states organ donation program, Donor Alliance, said Hesss marketing language could be confusing to people.. A former employee has alleged misconduct regarding the disposal of the deceased at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas. There are no ethics there when you do that.. She did. And as of. Prosecutors recommended a sentence for Hess of 12 to 15 years. Jeffersonville funeral home under investigation after police find The report also noted that a former employee at Sunset Mesa was troubled by Hess mother, who was responsible for embalming and dismembering the dead bodies. At the focal point of the FBI probe: funeral director Megan Hess, who did not return Fox News request for a comment. All rights reserved. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Though Koch dissected bodies in the back room at Sunset Mesa, they claimed that the body had to be sent out for harvesting, Eberspacher said. "This is the most emotionally draining. After a reporter asked questions about the websiteand her background, Hess removed the Add to Cart donation pages from her cremation website and cut the mention of the mortuary science degree from her online biography. The investigation of Kents funeral homes began in February after the sheriffs office received a complaint by a client regarding the handling of human remains. Lawsuits pile up against former funeral director - Tennessee Lookout Other staff members also said that it was never disclosed to donor families that the corpses would be sold for profit a potentially illegal practice. You are looking at how to make money.. Its tentacles go throughout not only the country but the world.. They were affiliated with her funeral business. Burg and Teselles law firm is currently suing body brokers in both Colorado and Arizona. Records from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies showthis was not the first time Kent has been in the crosshairs of state regulators. She says Shirley Koch came to pick up his body. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Funeral homes owned by Lake County coroner under investigation Colorado funeral home owner sentenced in body sales case There is even more money to be made in dissecting those bodies and selling the parts. Hess is tentatively set to be sentenced in January. POCATELLO, Idaho Police in Pocatello are investigating a local funeral home after they said a state health inspector contacted them about the business and a badly decomposed body was found. Staci Kent, however, wouldnt let them see the baby, Reh said. Responding to the investigations and details reported out of Montrose, Colorado lawmakers could become the first in the country to pass a law making it illegal for funeral home or crematory owners to operate as a body broker. Pettyjohn now lives with the memory of what happened to the body of her 26-year-old son, Brian. A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The home, located at 8215 W. Summerdale Ave., was sold for just shy of $400,000 in May 2021. Colorado does not regulate body brokers. When Mabry and Eberspacher went to Sunset Mesa the morning after Dunlap died, Hess and Koch said they could not locate the eye, Eberspacher said. Part 8: Former workers describe troubling practices at this mortuary-body broker, including allegations of deceptive marketing and an account of how gold dental work was removed from corpses and sold.