Funeral home to be demolished, 18 bodies still unidentified
(PENROSE, Colo.) — At a press conference on Wednesday, April 10, the Fremont County Coroner and other state and federal officials provided an update about plans for the demolition of the Return to Nature Funeral home, as well as the progress on identifying the nearly 200 remains discovered at the Penrose location.
Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller spoke first, and announced a ceremony planned for the day of demolition. Victims are invited to attend the ceremony, which will be held at the Penrose location, 31 Werner Road, beginning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16.
“The ceremony prior to the demolition of the Return to Nature facility hopefully marks a day of closure and continued healing for all the victims of this… horrific event,” said Keller.
Keller stressed that the ceremony will not be an opportunity to protest.
“We ask everyone in attendance to please have respect for the families and give them the peace and time they need for closure and grieving,” Keller said.
Keller said due to a gag order issued by the courts to protect the integrity of the case, he cannot provide any updates on the investigation or the criminal case against the owners of the funeral home. However, he did state that 18 sets of remains have yet to be identified, and he has initiated DNA testing to match the remains to their family members.
Should a DNA sample be required to confirm an identity, Keller said the coroner’s office would be contacting families, and there is no need to contact the office independently.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also provided more specifics on the demolition plans, and reassured the community that all possible steps have been taken to ensure the safe and sanitary destruction of the Penrose building. Site preparation work began the week of April 8, ahead of the demolition planned for April 16.
The EPA said the demolition will take approximately 10 days, weather depending, and during that time, a disinfectant will be applied inside the building, both prior to and throughout demolition. The EPA said excavators will first start to break up the building from the top down and remove large pieces of the structure, while working to keep it within the foundation footprint.
During this process, the EPA said it will use water and other liquid solutions for dust suppression, but not in quantities that would cause runoff of contamination from the interior of the building to the ground surface outside.
Once the building has been successfully demolished, the EPA said ground crews would ensure an efficient and protective loading of materials into trucks for transportation to a landfill. Once the building and concrete foundation slab have been removed, the EPA will also conduct a soil scrape on the footprint of the building.
As for what will become of the property after demolition, Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham said the county still does not have possession of the property, and it remains in the original owner’s name.
“The disposition of that site is still up in the air,” Grantham said.
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