Davis Mortuary investigation to likely cost Pueblo County more than $1M

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - 13 Investigates has learned that the investigation into Davis Mortuary will likely cost Pueblo County more than a million dollars. 

The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) says the investigation has already reached around $817,000, and as they uncover more in the investigation, the office says that number continues to climb. 

According to records by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), former Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter's funeral home was due for an inspection in August. When inspectors arrived, they noted "a strong odor of decomposition."

Later, inspectors said they noticed a door was hidden by a cardboard display. When they went to remove the display, inspectors say Cotter asked them not to go inside, according to DORA's records.

Inspectors did not follow Cotter's request; when they entered, they said they found bodies in various stages of decomposition, DORA records allege.

The CBI says a total of 24 bodies from Davis Mortuary, along with multiple containers of bones and multiple containers of probable human tissue, were transferred to the El Paso County Coroner's Office for attempted identification.

When the investigation began, the state of Colorado gave Pueblo $300,000, but that doesn't begin to cover half the costs. So 13 Investigates asked Pueblo County if the costs would fall on the local taxpayer. The county did respond to our inquiry, but did not answer our question.

The county continues to monitor the expenses related to the Davis Mortuary investigation and appreciates the support from the State of Colorado.

- Sabina Genesio, Pueblo County Manager

On Thursday, Pueblo County Commissioners voted to continue working with the Fremont and El Paso County coroners. 

"They're still looking at the cremains and some of the bodies, whether or not they needed DNA testing or not, that was about $10,000 apiece," said Chief Mark Mears with the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office.

PCSO says it costs $10,000 per identification. Plus, the county needs to pay neighboring counties' employees overtime for this investigation and the work they did while Pueblo was left without a coroner for weeks. 

The county estimates more than a million in costs, which led some commissioners to ask if there is any more state funding to help.

"We're still at that $300,000, initial piece. But we have talked about having a letter sent to the governor's office saying, Look, this did go bigger than what was expected, and we'd like to see if there's any kickback. Of course, you know, the state's at $1 billion loss. So I don't know if they're going to pony up any more money, but it's worth a try," shared Chief Mears.

Commissioner Paula McPheeters chimed in, saying that the board should join in asking the Governor's office for more funds.

"I don't really feel the county should cover all of that. If there are emergency dollars at the state level that can be expended. I think we should ask," stated Commissioner McPheeters, representing District 2.

Commissioners decided to wait a few weeks to ask for the money as they are expecting more exact numbers regarding identification costs.

We asked the Governor's Office if they have the money to help Pueblo County. As of publication, they did not reply to our request for comment.

13 Investigates reached out to the El Paso County and Fremont County Coroner's Offices to see how this has impacted their offices.

Many El Paso County Coroner’s Office staff worked tirelessly answering Pueblo County’s emergent need for help.  Staff set aside their personal lives and dedicated all of their time to tending to the death investigation needs of two counties.  At this time, our staff are recuperating from the intense nature of this unique and unfortunate situation. 

- Dr. Russell-Kinsley, the El Paso County Coroner's Office

We also asked them about the costs incurred from taking on the additional work.

The majority of the costs to El Paso County Coroner’s Office were personnel costs.  The extra work hours required overtime pay for our staff.  In addition, staff who were tasked with the difficult role of examining remains and evidence collection were paid on a per case basis, consistent with the precedent set during the Return to Nature incident.

- Dr. Russell-Kinsley, the El Paso County Coroner's Office

The Fremont County Coroner's Office did not respond to our request for comment.

Commissioners also continued to mention the identification of cremains. 13 Investigates followed up with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about this, because there has been no mention of cremains since the start of the investigation. CBI has continuously repeated that there were 24 bodies found in Davis Mortuary, with containers of likely human flesh and bones. CBI did confirm it is working to determine how many cremains were recovered.

As the CBI shared at the outset, we are working to determine how many cremains were recovered as part of this ongoing investigation and have no time frame for when that process will be completed.

- Rob Low, a CBI Spokesperson

To read all of our reports on this case, click here.

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