May 27, 2009 6:32 pm US/Central
Bodies Found In Funeral Home Bought At Tax Sale
Remains Of Four People Were Left Inside Vacant Building Since 2006
GARY, Ind. (CBS) ―
Four bodies in a funeral home isn't unusual. Four unidentified bodies left behind in a vacant funeral home is "unbelievable."
That's what the Rev. Reginald Burrell thought Sunday when he and deacons from Northlake Church of Christ went to visit their newly purchased building.
"What in the world is a body still doing in this building?" Burrell thought when he saw a body bag on a table inside the former Serenity Gardens Funeral Home at 934 E. 21st Ave.
He notified Lake County Coroner David J. Pastrick, who arrived Tuesday morning with a crew to investigate the scene.
They found four bodies, including one in the bag, one in a corrugated burial box and two reportedly stacked on top of one another in a casket.
Pastrick believes they could have been there since 2006, when the Indiana State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Services revoked the business license for Serenity owner Darryl Cammack.
"They are unidentifiable," Pastrick said of the remains.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot spoke with a woman who fears her brother may be among those who were found.
"I was just devastated and I'm just wondering if one of those bodies is my brother's," Beatrice Ingram said.
Ingram had her brother's funeral carried out by owner Darryl Cammack in 2003.
"I didn't get the remains of my brother's body for months," Ingram said. "I never felt like those remains were my brother's."
Cammack, who lost his funeral home license in Illinois in 2003, had been sanctioned by the Indiana board in 2005 after at least eight customers filed complaints against him.
Allegations against Cammack include:
-not providing death certificates
-forging life insurance documents to receive funeral payment
-and, conducting funerals after his license was revoked
"That building has been vacant since I started coming over to that church in Gary in 2005," Burrell said.
His church bought the building at a tax sale and intends to renovate it.
"We have lots of plans and goals we want to pursue," Burrell said. The church now is located next door to their proposed new site.
Gary police are working with state agencies in the investigation.
Lake County Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, who was chairman of the state board in 2005, said Cammack could be charged with breaking several laws.
Pastrick said he doesn't know the origin of the bodies, but believes if the deceased were local, he would have been contacted by relatives about a delay in burial.
"I can't even imagine a funeral director doing something like this. This is my field. It's unbelievable," Pastrick said.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot and the Post-Tribune contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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