PUEBLO, Colo. — The Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced Wednesday that 18 sets of 24 remains have now been identified in the Davis Mortuary case. The individuals died between 2010 and 2012.
The Pueblo mortuary, owned by the county’s coroner, Brian Cotter and his brother Chris, came under scrutiny in August of last year after state inspectors discovered the remains in a concealed room.
Cotter told inspectors that some bodies had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years and acknowledged he may have given families fake ashes, according to a document from state regulators.
No arrests or charges have yet been filed in the case.
CBI said that nine of the most recent identifications were made using forensic genetic genealogy, a process that involves asking a private lab to use public DNA databases, such as GEDmatch, to find distant relatives and build family trees.
CBI says investigators are still examining multiple containers of bones, cremains, and probable human tissue representing an unknown number of people.
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