CARLINVILLE, Ill. — An Illinois funeral home is under fire accused of giving dozens of families the wrong cremated remains.
The Sangamon County Coroner is investigating Heinz Funeral Home in Carlinville, Illinois, which is about 60 miles northeast of St. Louis.
For the last week, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing at the Sangamon County Coroner’s Office.
“The phone is ringing as we’re speaking,” said Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon.
On the other end of the line are people like Terri and Vaughn Renfro, questioning if the cremated remains they picked up from Heinz Funeral Home are actually their loved ones.
“It just took them a long time,” said Terri Renfro. “They couldn’t find her. Then he got her. Then he lost her.”
“I thought my wife was going to actually have a nervous breakdown,” said Vaughn Renfro.
“My sister passed in December,” said Terri Renfro. “We didn’t have a service for her until April. It took that long to get her.”
Allmon says his office recently discovered that Heinz provided the wrong cremated remains to multiple families, while others received ashes despite their loved one having never been cremated.
“In my 20 years of doing this I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Allmon. “This has been going on at least a couple of years.”
Allmon’s office is working to verify whose remains each family has using a pin number which is typically provided at the top of the remains.
“Every time we go to a home to pick up the cremains of an individual that person that we pick up, we have to make that phone call to another family and explain to them that the cremains they have are not those of their loved one,” said Allmon. “I’ve spoken to a lot of people who have spread ashes.”
The good news is not every case ends in heartbreak.
“We just found out a while ago that we did get the right ashes back,” said Vaughn Renfro.
“We’ve had a few good endings, but more bad than good,” said Allmon.
Heinz Funeral Home is now under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies as a task force works to ensure that remains are with the correct families.
“This now is considered multi-jurisdictional so we’re going to do our best to ensure we have the resources available to help their family,” said Allmon.
5 On Your Side reached out to Heinz Funeral Home for comment on this story, but they have yet to respond to multiple requests.
If you had a loved one cremated at Heinz Funeral Home you're being asked to call your county coroner and verify the pin number provided with their remains.