More than 500 boxes of ashes from Chicago Heights crematory never made it to families

By Dave Savini

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    CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — Hundreds of bodies cremated at the Heights Crematory in Chicago Heights, Illinois, never made it to their loved ones.

The crematory was shut down after the CBS News Chicago Investigators exposed how bodies were being mishandled there. Now, there is an effort to find a final resting place for those whose bodies were cremated.

When the State of Illinois shut down the crematory, they found more than 500 boxes lying in filth — each belonging to some family somewhere because they were filled with ashes of their deceased loved ones.

Some of those ashes have yet to be identified, but the ones that have been identified are now behind closet doors and ready to be picked up at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Ponni Arunkumar has been tasked with identifying boxes filled with bags of ashes, along with bodies which were found at Heights Crematory.

The remains were confiscated and sent to the morgue after the state shut the operation down in March for mishandling bodies.

Arunkumar said she had never seen anything like it before.

CBS News Chicago has been investigating Heights Crematory since February, after obtaining photos of bodies mishandled and left stacked in dirty trailers in ways that violated state law. The photos showed bodies in sheets, and some of them contained bugs.

“The mission of our office is to treat people with dignity and respect, and it’s disheartening to see the condition of the cremains and the bodies,” said Arunkumar.

Dr. Arunkumar said her staff found some of the remains were decades old, but never got to their loved ones.

Arunkumar also said some of the boxes containing the remains were very dirty. She got emotional talking about the condition of the boxes.

“They were covered with mold and bugs, and we actually used specialty services to come in and kind of disinfect the boxes,” Arunkumar said.

Tabitha Mathis’ mother, Patsy Hughes, died 15 months ago. Her ashes were among the boxes stored at the Medical Examiner’s office.

“It’s horrifying to see her like this,” said Mathis. “I have never cried so hard in my life.”

Mathis said Heights’ owners ghosted her after she kept calling for her mom’s remains, and then when she saw our CBS News Chicago investigation, a grim reality sank in.

“And there’s all these other people in there in a closet waiting to be claimed?” Mathis said. “It’s disgusting. It’s sad. I don’t know how a human being could treat another human being like this.”

There are six boxes the county has not been able to identify. There were also 10 bodies that have now been identified.

Investigators said Heights Crematory had names misspelled, and some lacked the required paperwork.

A hearing is set for June 24 to determine if the license for Heights Crematory will be permanently revoked.

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