Britt Jones
Piles of human remains were found in the Nevada desert by accident, and now an unlikely source is recovering them.
Hundreds of piles of cremated remains were discovered by a passerby, who stumbled upon them on July 28. Alongside the remains, zip ties and what appeared to be the remains of an urn were also seen close by.
The mystery sparked many questions, including whether they belonged to humans or animals.
Shockingly, the ashes were analysed and confirmed to be human, but no evidence was left behind to ascertain who left them in the desert.
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has since been working with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to figure out who dumped the cremated remains.
Even though spreading ashes on federal land is not a crime, 'failing to dignify the dead' is.
As investigators speak to a commercial funeral home that recently closed to find out if they were responsible for the dumping, another business has stepped up to take care of the remains.
On Wednesday (October 29), crews from Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries removed approximately 315 piles of the pulverized remains, known as ‘cremains’, from the site.
Celena DiLullo, president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries, explained how the 315 piles of cremains would be transferred to a cemetery crypt where loved ones can collect them.
“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” DiLullo told 8News Now Las Vegas.
“It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we care about these people.
“I don’t know if it was the wishes of these people to be out, so that’s kind of what goes through my mind. If this is not how they would want to be remembered, we would just want to have a place for them to be,” she added.
But question marks still remain over who dumped the remains in the first place.
The BLM oversees one in ten acres of land in the United States, and noted in a 2011 memo that commercial entities, like a funeral home, are not allowed to dispose of cremated human remains on land managed by the BLM due to the amount of remains it would involve.
The memo said: "Cremated remains are not considered a hazardous substance.
"However, the quantity of material associated with commercial distribution of cremated remains could preclude other land uses and may require designation and regulation of land as a functioning cemetery.
"This could require disposal of parcels of public land under appropriate authorities because the BLM does not manage functioning cemeteries."
Officials confirmed the remains were not dumped by McDermott’s Funeral Home, which was shut down by the Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board in August this year.
UNILAD previously contacted the Bureau of Land Management for comment.