Colorado Springs family victimized by funeral home in Montrose; FBI investigating
The bodies of at least 50 people, including a military veteran from Colorado Springs, were chopped up at a funeral home that sold the parts and returned dry cement or sand to some families instead of ashes from cremation, according to the veteran’s son and a lawsuit filed by families against the home.
The FBI is investigating the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, which has been closed by state officials.
The body of David McCarthy was one of those involved in the scheme, and his son, Zachary McCarthy, of Colorado Springs, confirmed the matter Monday to KRDO NewsChannel 13.
“My father died on Father’s Day 2017 and we learned about the situation a year ago,” he said. “His body is chopped up in a meat locker in Denver. The DNA of his body parts matched DNA from me and my three brothers. He was an Air Force and Army veteran. Something like this should never happen.”
Zachary McCarthy said he was told by investigators that an unspecified number of bodies were cut into pieces, stored in coolers and sold to unspecified entities for between $250 and $1,200.
“It’s weird that they found (father’s) body parts in Detroit, where he was born,” McCarthy said. “The reason we chose that funeral home is because they did a wonderful job with a little kid who died just a couple of weeks before my dad.”
McCarthy said he knew something was wrong when he received what he thought were his father’s ashes.
“The bag clunked down on the table, which we thought was really weird,” he said.
McCarthy said in 2018, the FBI raided the funeral home after several complaints from families, and later asked some families to test ashes received from Sunset Mesa.
It’s believed that the family who runs the funeral home, owned by Megan Hess, received $40,000 monthly from selling the body parts.
The bodies were supposed to be cremated and the ashes returned to families, many of whom instead received containers of sand or dry cement, and possibly ashes of other people.
“Some of us are finding that we have some of the same pieces,” McCarthy said. “I’m unsure if we have all of someone, or a little bit of a lot of people.”
McCarthy said his family will wait until the outcome of the investigation to decide whether to join the lawsuit or file a separate court action.
There have been no arrests or charges, and authorities haven’t specified who purchased the body parts.
McCarthy said he first learned of the situation from a report in the European media.
“They reported it before anyone here in the U.S. did,” he said. “Those body parts were going all around the world.”
The FBI declined to comment on the matter Monday. The U.S Attorney’s Office and the attorneys representing plaintiffs in the lawsuit did not return calls seeking comment.
