US | funeral home Grim Find Made Behind Hidden Door at Funeral Home Decomposing bodies were in room at home owned by Colorado county coroner By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Aug 22, 2025 5:50 AM CDT Copied This image from video provided by KRDO13 shows Davis Mortuary in Pueblo on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, where state inspectors found decomposing bodies behind a hidden door. (KRDO13 via AP) State inspectors in Colorado found about 20 decomposing bodies behind a hidden door in a funeral home owned by a county coroner, who told them he may have given fake ashes to next of kin who sought cremations, authorities disclosed Thursday. The bodies were discovered in a room behind a door hidden by a cardboard display during an inspection of Davis Mortuary in Pueblo, about 110 miles south of Denver, the AP reports. Inspectors found a "strong odor of decomposition" after arriving at the business on Wednesday. Brian Cotter—the owner and Pueblo County coroner—had asked them not to enter the room, according to a document from state regulators. Colorado long had some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the nation, with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators. That has allowed numerous abuses, including a pending case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies that were found stored at room temperature in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about 30 miles from Pueblo. A sentencing in that case of one of the funeral home's owners for corpse abuse is set for Friday. The discovery in Pueblo came during the first inspection of Davis Mortuary under rules adopted last year in response to prior crimes within Colorado's funeral industry. Before the law changed, funeral homes could only be inspected if a complaint had been filed against them. Davis Mortuary did not have any complaints, said Sam Delp, director of the Division of Professions and Occupations in the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. Cotter told inspectors that some of the bodies had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years, according to the document from state regulators that explained why the state suspended the mortuary's registration. "This is a profound violation of trust and a heartbreaking betrayal of the families who entrusted their loved ones to this funeral home," Colorado Bureau of Investigation director Armando Saldate III said. Investigators on Thursday were collecting evidence with the help of state troopers trained in responding to hazardous materials, Saldate said, noting that they were "respectfully and humanely" handling the bodies. Cotter has not been arrested, and Pueblo County District Attorney Kala Beauvais said no charges have been filed as the investigation continues. Read These Next Cracker Barrel ditches the barrel in its logo. That massive civil penalty Trump was hit with just got thrown out. He 12 days into livestream when viewers noticed he wasn't moving. Hillary Clinton has a new prediction about SCOTUS. Report an error