Las Animas County Coroner buries homeless man, family learns nearly two years after death

TRINIDAD, Colo. (KRDO) - A homeless person from Trinidad was buried by the Las Animas County Coroner, Dominic Verquer, allegedly without any family being notified.

In the summer of 2019, Timothy Radford went missing. His brother, Quinton Radford, said he searched for him for weeks.

“I'm talking to the homeless because those were his friends,” Quinton said. “They're showing me where he could be or whatever, and helping me look for him and we never did run into anything.”

Two weeks later, Radford was found dead and his body was handed over to Las Animas County Coroner Dominic Verquer. The family said they waited for notification on when they could pick up Radford’s body but they were never told.

It wasn’t until January 2021 that the family learned Radford had been buried in a private cemetery near Trinidad without their knowledge.

“They couldn't tell me exactly what happened to my brother,” Quinton said. “They told me that they had already buried my brother at a private cemetery and that it would take at least $10,000 for me to get the body out of that cemetery.”

In March 2021, the Radford family traveled to Trinidad to pay respects to their loved one and conduct a memorial service. However, the family says Verquer couldn’t remember where he buried Radford.

“The coroner took me and my family up to this cemetery and he walked us around for about 2 hours trying to show us where he thought he buried my brother, but he didn't know for sure,” Quinton said.

Radford isn’t the only homeless person buried by the Las Animas County Coroner. A document obtained by KRDO13 Investigates shows Verquer buried four people in the Starkville Cemetery. One of them was Frederick Huff, another Trinidad homeless man.

In September, Huff's body was exhumed only to find another unknown body in the same grave. The cemetery owner, Carl Mestas, said he didn’t know these bodies were buried in his cemetery and Verquer never provided a required burial permit for any of them.

“I'm going to need those permits,” Mestas said to Verquer when the two bodies were exhumed. “The second thing is I need the identities of these bodies. These are human beings, they are entitled to the dignity of a proper burial. They are entitled to have their graves marked.”

Quinton said his family has requested and paid for Radford’s death certificate but it still hasn’t been provided to them.

KRDO13 Investigates has reached out to Verquer multiple times about these allegations, but we haven’t heard back.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has received a request from the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office to assist in the investigation into the Las Animas County Coroner, who is facing allegations of improper burials.

Clay Mason, a Trinidad pastor who serves the homeless and knew Radford well, said he is worried there could be more homeless buried without people knowing.

“There's no telling who's buried where and what other cemeteries he’s used,” Mason said. “It just opens up a whole can of worms now.”

The Radford family hopes the investigation brings closure after years of unanswered questions.

“That's the main thing we want is closure for our family,” Quinton said. “And another thing is not for this to ever, ever happen again to anyone.”