LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Floyd County Coroner's Office is seeking the next of kin of the cremated remains that were found at the New Albany funeral home the state effectively shut down for 90 days.
Indiana's Attorney General began investigating Spring Valley Funeral & Cremation Services after a consumer filed a complaint with the state office. Investigators determined the funeral home posed a "clear and immediate danger" to public health and safety.
According to a petition filed in July, state compliance officers investigated the property on June 28.
After reviewing the attorney general's petition, the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency suspended the funeral home's license for 90 days and ordered it to cease operations.
Now Floyd County Coroner Greg Roution needs help. He found 19 sets of cremated remains and is trying to contact the families who dealt with Spring Valley.
"A lot of the phone numbers I called have been disconnected so they've moved, they probably forgotten about them and it's just something that sometimes happen, unfortunately," Roution said.
Most have been cremated within the past year. Others date back to the 1970's.
"When we opened that up and I saw just a tin can with a name on it I knew they were old just because of the way it looked and it's going to be hard to get them, one of them were identified but no family members and the other one, as of right now, is unidentified," Roution said.
He is now speaking for people who can't speak. So far, six families have been contacted.
It brings him joy giving closure to families who said they never heard back from the former owner of the funeral home.
"Shocked, they were like 'we've been trying forever,' a couple of them said 'we've been trying forever to get a hold of him and we can't reach him,'" said Roution.
Even if no one claims the identified cremated remains, Roution plans to put them in a vault.
"Our job is to help the people get through their final moments we're basically called last responders," he said. "You got the first responders and we're the last responders."
Roution has never seen this kind of neglect before.
"I would like the families to understand that this doesn't happen everywhere, this is one of those things that happened, and we're going to do our best to make things right," Roution said.
If you are related to one of the people on this list, you are asked to call the Floyd County Coroner's Office at 1-812-948-5478 and press 1, or email them at groution@floydcounty.in.gov.
The coroner's office is looking for family members of the following people:
- Darren Murphy 02-12-2024
- Stephen Gary 11/11/2023
- Josh Hurley 11/30/2023
- Shamika Thomas 09/15/2022
- Margaret S Mollenaijer 07/17/1978
- Adavid Elmer Eppley sometime between 1970-1980
- George Fath 10/12/2023
- Gary Thompson 04/05/2024
- Robert Goodman 01/24/2023
- Tammy Lynn Thompson 02/13/2023
- Steve L Wilson 01/07/2018
- James Johnson 02/06/2024
- Richard Higgs 04/17/2023
The coroner's office said they have contacted the family of the following people:
- William L Hubbard Jr. 12/07/2023
- Shannon Haysley 11/02/2023
- Margaret Downs 09/19/2023
- Bernice Arnett 01/12/2024
- Deborah Jean Orth 02/24/2023
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