Oct. 20 (UPI) — Officials discovered the remains of four additional bodies Friday at a Detroit funeral home where they found the bodies of 11 infants inside the ceiling last week.
Naveed Syed, the new owner of the building that once housed Cantrell Funeral Home, said a worker found the additional cremated remains in boxes in the building’s basement. That brings the total number of unattended remains discovered in the now-shuttered facility to 38, The Detroit News reported.
A worker doing electrical work in the basement discovered the remains.
“I [kept] seeing this black box that was in my way,” Joseph Summers told WXYZ-TV in Detroit. “So as I moved it to the right, I happened to notice that it was the remains of ashes of someone — some loved ones that was basically thrown away like trash.”
State investigators found the first remains last week after receiving an anonymous letter about their existence. Syed let inspectors from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs search the premises and they found boxes and a small casket in the ceiling. Syed said he called police after the remains were discovered.
State inspectors shut down the funeral home in April after inspectors found several violations including decomposing remains and poor conditions.
Among the violations that led LARA to suspend the mortuary science establishment license, inspectors previously found decomposing bodies stored in a non-refrigerated garage in a filthy back room.
Former funeral home owner Raymond Cantrell said he did not order employees to hide bodies.
Syed said he’s now decided to demolish the building, which he initially planned to turn it into a community center.
“We’ve taken out more than four Dumpsters full of stuff, and God knows what else we’re going to find,” he said.
