Funeral home under investigation for extended body storage

Author: Associated Press
Published:

DEBARY, Fla. (AP) – Documents show that a DeBary funeral home is being investigated for allegations that it stored bodies in a cooler for an extended period rather than dispose of them.

Altman-Long Funeral Home owner Bill Long told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that the state recently notified him of the investigation.

Last month, Volusia County, which had a contract with the funeral home to handle burial services for the county’s indigent, removed 15 bodies from the facility. That contract was terminated.

Long says he started holding onto bodies longer because he was making additional efforts to locate the relatives of the deceased.

Spokesman Joel Brown for Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, whose office regulates funeral homes in Florida, said his agency is looking into the matter, but declined to be more specific.

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