The director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation says progress is being made in identifying the discarded remains of nearly two dozen bodies found in a Pueblo funeral home.
“We're talking about the complexity of DNA and the analysis,” said Armando Saldate. “It was a very complex search warrant and processing of a scene that took days, if you could imagine.”
During an annual inspection at Davis Mortuary on August 20, state officials found several bodies in various stages of decomposition. Brian Cotter, who resigned as the Pueblo County coroner on Sept. 2, co-owns the funeral home along with his brother Chris. He told inspectors that some of the bodies had been awaiting cremation for approximately 15 years. He also acknowledged that he gave family members of the deceased fake cremains.
Neither Brian nor Chris Cotter have been arrested, but operations at the mortuary have been suspended.
In an interview with Colorado Matters, Saldate cited the many officials and jurisdictions assisting in the case; that includes coroners from El Paso and Fremont Counties, the Department of Regulatory Affairs, and law enforcement departments like the FBI and the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.
“We couldn’t use (Cotter), we had to bring in others,” Saldate said.
Governor Jared Polis declared an emergency, which Saldate said helped get funding to assist the investigation. Some of those same officials also worked on an unrelated recent case in Penrose, Colorado, where almost 200 abandoned bodies were found.
Officials also set up a tip line for those concerned that their loved one's remains were improperly handled; Saldate said the tip line has received more than 1,000 calls.
“That was something that we wanted to make sure, and that we learned from the previous investigation, is we needed to communicate to families, and we also needed their information to help us identify potentially these remains,” Saldate said.
While technology like forensic odontology, or identifying victims through dental records, is being used, “it may (come) down to what someone was wearing when they were buried, and things like that,” Saldate said. “And that's helpful in us trying to identify those, but ultimately, we may need to rely on DNA and DNA samples and genealogy, maybe get family members to do comparisons.”
- Interim Pueblo County Coroner set to replace former coroner now under criminal investigation
- Pueblo County coroner resigns following the discovery of decaying bodies at his private practice
- Elected officials in Pueblo call for the resignation of its county coroner
- Pueblo County’s coroner faces state probe after decaying bodies found hidden at his private practice
