Brothers are accused of mishandling remains of two dozen people at Colorado funeral home

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Police on Thursday arrested two Colorado men, including a former county coroner, for allegedly mishandling at least two dozen decomposing bodies and other remains found behind a hidden door in a funeral home.

Charges filed against former Pueblo County Coroner Brian Lee Cotter, 65, and his brother, Christopher Aaron Cotter, 60, included 125 counts of abuse of a corpse, according to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation statement.

Police arrested the men in Pueblo, and they were jailed on $1 million bond. They were set to appear in state court for the first time Friday afternoon in Pueblo, according to court documents.

Last summer, state inspectors found remains behind a hidden door in the Davis Mortuary in Pueblo about 110 miles (177 kilometers) south of Denver. The inspectors found a “strong odor of decomposition” after arriving at the business owned by the two brothers.

The men had no attorney on record in court documents to comment on their behalf. The Associated Press left phone messages Thursday for Brian Cotter and relatives of the brothers.

Brian Cotter allegedly told inspectors at the time he may have given fake ashes to next of kin who sought cremations. He resigned as coroner in September.

Investigators have identified 19 of the 24 bodies recovered plus the remains of two people whose tissue was found in containers at the mortuary site, according to the investigators’ statement.

The bodies and “numerous skeletal remains” were allegedly stored in conditions that grossly violated professional and ethical standards, the statement alleged.

Containers marked as cremains and containing “human skeletal material” were found in disarray, with many lacking proper identification, the investigators alleged.

“The evidence uncovered during this investigation reveals a complete disregard for the dignity of the deceased and the trust placed in Davis Mortuary by families in our community,” CBI Director Armando Saldate said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that those responsible for these actions are held accountable.”

The discovery in Pueblo came during the first inspection of Davis Mortuary under rules adopted in 2024 in response to prior crimes within Colorado’s funeral industry.

Colorado long had some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the nation. The state did not require routine inspections or set qualifications for people to become funeral home operators.

Numerous abuses resulted. They included nearly 200 decomposing bodies kept at room temperature in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Pueblo.

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Associated Press reporter Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed to this story.