Colorado families of funeral home tragedies celebrate new bill to regulate the industry
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) - A new piece of legislation is looking to finally bring justice to hundreds of families that have fallen victim to malicious funeral home owners in Colorado.
On Monday, a handful of families who have been victimized by funeral homes in the past several years, appeared at the State Capitol in Denver to join legislators in the announcement of a new bi-partisan bill that would make licenses, background checks, and an educational degree, necessary to run a Colorado funeral home.
"All we're asking for is dignity in death done by professional people that know what they're doing. People who have an education in the background, a passion." explained Shelia Canfield-Jones, who has been fighting for stronger laws in the funeral home industry for months, since finding out her daughter, Marella was amongst the near 200 bodies found decomposing inside the Return to Nature funeral home in October 2024.
"I kept thinking in my mind, why did this happen? How did this happen? What allowed this to happen?" said Canfield-Jones.
Alongside Canfield-Jones, was Danielle McCarthy, a resident of Colorado Springs who has been advocating for stronger funeral home regulations since 2018, after he husband was one of hundreds of victims whose bodies were dismembered and sold by the owners of a Montrose funeral home in 2018.
"It's just that licensure means so much to the general population and to the dignity, the dignity and the respect that the profession needs right now." McCarthy said.
George Rosales also spoke at the announcement Monday, as the latest victim of funeral home malpractice, after his wife's body was found lying in the trunk of a hearse at a former funeral home owner's house, in Denver.
"That's why I have to be here today because I have to support the legislation and make sure that we can all, we can all move forward. Because I'd rather not have anybody live through this again," Rosales remarked.
Canfield Jones was very optimistic about the bills introduction, and feels that alongside other legislation in the state capitol that Colorado will soon become a much more fortified state when it comes to funeral home regulation.
"When you go to bury your loved one, whether it's a child, whether it's a son, a daughter and aunt and uncle or grandpa. Think about it. Are you going to trust the person? Are you going to trust them if they're unlicensed? Or are you going to trust them if they're licensed? Are you going to trust the educational background? People don't think about those things because they're in grief and they don't have time to think about those things. And that's the sad part." remarked Canfield-Jones during her time at the podium during Monday's announcement.
However, she and other family members shared they still have questions moving forward, such as whether insurance will ever be required for funeral homes, or how often the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which oversees funeral homes in Colorado, will carry out the "routine" inspections that are outline in the bill's language.
"I think they should be inspected monthly, you know, just like a food service or anybody else." said Canfield-Jones.
Rosales, still reconciling with the fact his wife whom he spent 18 months grieving over had actually been laying in the back of a car, believes there should be a way to get a confirmation after a burial or cremation, that cannot be circumvented by funeral homes owners.
"I had made a suggestion every every cremation should get a thumbprint. Or if the family wants to pay the DNA tests, you know, just to make sure you're getting the right cremains, because now you don't know." said Rosales.
The bill will head to committee within the Capitol, before then being voted on in the House and then the Senate. Lawmakers on Monday expressed that they did have Governor Polis' support for the bill, but did not elaborate any further.
