By BETH HUNDSDORFER
Capitol News Illinois
bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com

As many as 800 families across the country who patronized a Carlinville funeral home may never know if the remains on their mantles belong to their loved ones, according to an affidavit signed by Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon.

The affidavit was filed in a lawsuit pending against Carlinville-based Heinz Funeral Home and its director August Heinz for mishandling remains and providing the wrong cremated remains to family members.

The number of families is based on the number of clients Heinz handled between 2017, the time of the first known allegation, and 2023. Cremated remains cannot be identified by using DNA because they are degraded during the incineration process, so families can never be fully sure whether the remains given to them by Heinz are truly those of their loved ones.

The affidavit stated that Allmon confirmed 75 cases of families from across the country receiving incorrect cremains using existing records.

In one of those cases, a woman prayed and talked to what she thought was her mother’s ashes every day.

“During the course of this investigation, someone had to go to her and tell her that it wasn’t mama,” said Don Craven, who represents one of the affected families.

The investigation also found that Heinz stored bodies in unrefrigerated rooms at funeral homes, left them in the local hospital morgues for weeks, and mislabeled bodies and human remains with the wrong names.

Don and Joe Craven, of the Springfield law firm of Craven & Craven, are seeking to certify former clients of Heinz as a class in lawsuit, stating those 800 families have similar claims under the law.

The Cravens also serve as legal counsel for Capitol News Illinois.

At the time the Heinz case came to light, it wasn’t immediately clear if or how he might have broken the law. The Illinois State Police investigated criminal wrongdoing, but as of Tuesday, Heinz has not faced any charges in connection with his handling of bodies.

But charges have not entirely been ruled out.

“We are currently exploring any and all options for charges,” said Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison.

The case also spurred Illinois lawmakers to introduce bills to more closely regulate funeral directors and the handling of human remains.

Last month, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Dignity in Death Care Act into law. The Act mandates funeral directors keep a chain of custody with unique identifiers that stay with the remains to ensure the proper identification of remains through cremation or burial.

Typically, funeral directors consider it best practice to place a titanium medallion containing the funeral home’s name and a unique identifying number with the body when it is picked up and transferred for cremation.

The crematorium keeps a record of the person and number. The medallion stays with the remains through the transfer and the cremation and is typically affixed to the bag with the remains when it is returned to the family.

This tracking system would ensure that the remains given to the family are truly those of their loved ones.

Heinz did not have a crematorium at his funeral home but did contract with at least two local businesses to do creamations. Those crematoriums kept records that Heinz did not have access to, allowing investigators to piece together the identities of some cremains.

Under the new law, a funeral director who makes a false statement on a death certificate, prepares false records or alters the chain of custody records could be charged with a felony.

The new law also mandates that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has 10 days to inspect funeral homes after receiving a complaint.

In Heinz’s case, Morgan County Coroner Marci Patterson filed a complaint against Heinz six months before it was made public by Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. One of Patterson’s deputies went to the Carlinville funeral home and found a decomposing body in an embalming room. Patterson reported it to IDFPR and then tried for months to get the agency to act.

Read more: For at least 6 months, state failed to act on Carlinville funeral director that mishandled remains

IDFPR did not take immediate action against Heinz’s funeral director license because if the agency suspended the license, it would have only 30 days to complete an investigation and go to trial, a spokesperson said.

During that time, Heinz continued to conduct cremations and funeral services.

Heinz surrendered his license last year after Allmon went public during a news conference about what he found at the Carlinville funeral home, including three decomposing bodies. Allmon went to the funeral home after a Springfield hospital called him about a body abandoned in their morgue. When Allmon called the family, they told him that Heinz had already delivered their loved one’s ashes to them.

Allmon then launched an investigation that also resulted in at least nine exhumations, including five at Camp Butler National Cemetery, a resting place of more than 32,000 military veterans.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.