Overview
- Detectives recovered 79 sets of cremated remains in April during a follow-up inspection after Hurricane Beryl damage and moved them to police headquarters for safekeeping.
- Investigators have reunited 22 sets with relatives, leaving 57 unclaimed according to a public list posted by HPD.
- Any cremains unclaimed after Dec. 12 will be transferred to Harris County Bereavement Services for respectful final interment.
- Co-owners Michael Richardson and Gayle Bell were charged in October with multiple counts of abuse of a corpse after inspectors documented bodies in advanced decomposition and failed cooling.
- HPD published names and associated crematories to help locate next of kin, while acknowledging earlier discrepancies in totals as the mortuary’s attorney asserts the cremains were properly stored with repeated contact attempts.