Police find cremated remains in abandoned funeral home

DETROIT – Police in Detroit have again found cremated remains inside an abandoned funeral home.

The Detroit Free Press reports at least seven sets of cremated remains were found Wednesday in the basement of the former Howell Funeral Home, which has been closed for several years.

The newspaper says that police conducted the search after it forwarded a tip it received from someone who had been in the building and photographed the remains in boxes on a shelf.

A spokesman for the state department that regulates funeral homes says the agency will open a consumer complaint to start an investigation.

The removal of the remains is the latest update in ongoing investigations into the alleged mishandling of remains at funeral homes. Authorities in Detroit last year found the remains of 63 fetuses at the Perry Funeral Home and the mummified remains of 10 fetuses and a full-term infant at the closed Cantrell Funeral Home.

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This story has been corrected to indicate that the remains at Cantrell Funeral Home were found last year, not last week.

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Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com