Authorities seize more remains from Mo. funeral home

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Up to 30 sets of cremated ashes have been seized from the central Missouri funeral home under state investigation for allegedly mishandling bodies.

The Warren Funeral Chapel last week turned over between 20 and 30 containers of cremated ashes - some dating as far back as 1992 - to the Boone County medical examiner's office for identification, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

The transfer came at the request of the state attorney general's office, which sued the business on July 25. State inspectors reportedly found a decaying woman's body stored in an electrical room at the Columbia funeral home for 10 months without being embalmed or refrigerated.

A week after the state filed its complaint, inspectors from the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors found seven more decaying bodies in the funeral home's basement.

Warren funeral homes in Fulton and Columbia remain temporarily closed under an emergency court order while the state investigation continues. A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

The state plans to ask a Boone circuit judge to extend an injunction keeping the Warren funeral homes closed until the business can comply with Missouri law, spokesman Scott Holste of the attorney general's office told The Associated Press Monday.

Fourteen sets of cremated remains have been transferred to Heartland Cremation & Burial Society of Columbia so they can be returned to the deceased persons' family members, investigator Dori Burke of the county medical examiner's office told the Columbia Missourian.

Other cremated ashes will be returned to Parker Funeral Service & Cremator of Columbia and Central Missouri Vault Co. of New Bloomfield.

Warren family attorney Dan Viets told the Missourian that some of the ashes kept by his clients had not been paid for by relatives.

Two families have said they received ashes from the Warrens shortly after the death of their loved ones but have since discovered those ashes came from an unknown source.

In addition to the state investigation, funeral home owner Harold Warren Sr. and his son and business partner, Harold Warren Jr., have a recent history of financial trouble that includes an attempt to declare bankruptcy in 2006. The business also defaulted on several debts in recent years.