Records show 39 bodies waited months for cremation despite constant pressure from funeral homes, mayor

In May 2024 it was revealed that Carson City Public Administrator Scott Hoen had been incommunicative with local funeral homes, leading to multiple individuals waiting for lengthy periods of time to be cremated.

However, an investigation into Hoen’s emails shows the situation is far more dire.

Since Hoen took office in January 2023, the bodies of 39 deceased Carson City residents had to wait several months to be cremated and in many situations, their cases have still yet to be closed.

Over the course of several months, Hoen was emailed, called, and sent letters about these individuals by Waltons Funeral Homes (multiple locations), FitzHenry’s Funeral Home, the Cremation Society of Nevada, and Autumn Funeral Home.

By law, indigent cases — those who have no funds or family to pay for their own burials or cremations — must be held for 30 days while an investigation takes place into any potential family. On the 31st day, their bodies are to be cremated.

However, that did not happen.

In fact, communication shows that for the 39 individuals whose cremation dates were available, they waited, at earliest, two months to be cremated and in some cases up to five or even seven months. The funeral home representatives typically attempted to contact Hoen around 6-12 times by email alone, not including phone calls and office visits.

In one case, Hoen was repeatedly told that an individual who died in early 2023 was decomposing so badly their body was “dripping” out of their body bag. In an email sent April 19, 2023 by Shannon Andrade of Cremation Society of Nevada she wrote:

Attached are two documents, the first are the logged attempts that show that our funeral home has been trying to get help with Mr. (Redacted) since February. Our Care Facility Manager reported to us that Mr. (redacted) body is so badly decomposed now, that his body is leaking out of it’s bag and onto the floor. Currently, I don’t care who helps us, we just need help!

In total, Hoen was contacted 17 times about that individual. It took the Cremation Society of Nevada’s Ken Bowman calling the mayor, the coroner and other staff members at the city level before that individual was finally processed.

On a number of occasions, Coroner Pettie Braninburg also reached out to Hoen regarding cases with their long wait times.

“The funeral homes are experiencing extreme frustration with the lack of communication with your office,” wrote Braninburg in a June 20, 2023 email. “The Funeral Homes are held to a certain standard regarding the dispositioning of all deaths. They cannot meet this standard without all of us working together as a team and respecting each other with timely communication. I cannot answer the questions they have regarding these two cases.”

In another case, an individual who died in October was not an indigent case, but in fact, had her cremation paid in full ahead of time. Despite this, she still waited several months to be laid to rest. The first email from Hoen Carson Now could find regarding this case was in May, a full seven months after the individual died sent March 22, 2024 by Bethany Rasmussen of Autumn Funerals and Cremations:

I really need to get Ms. (redacted) cremated. As per my many, many emails, her cremation contract has been paid in full and everything has been signed. … I have sent emails to Mr. Hoen regarding this case and have asked him to sign just the cremation authorization so we can proceed. To this date, I have never received an email back about her case. I have attached her cremation authorization again in hopes that you’ll be able to sign it. I know you are really busy but Ms. (redacted) has been deceased since October 31, 2023. Please send the authorization back as soon as possible. Have a good day.

Emails to Hoen became more aggressive as time stretched on:

On June 19, 2023, Marie Finkes of FitzHenry's Funeral Home wrote:

Please contact me directly to discuss why you refuse to help us with the indigent population here in Carson City County, both of these cases have been with us since April. I have included Carson City coroners in the correspondence so that they are aware they we are still having issues with compliance from your office.

On November 22, 2023, Jeffrey Baughn from Walton's Funeral Home wrote:

I am Resubmitting (redacted). This person has been passed away for over 2 months. We need these documents to be signed so we can cremate her. And you've been aware since 9/21. These people that have been deceased need to be taken care of because they still deserve dignity and respect though out this whole process and waiting this long is highly inappropriate.

Baughn from Walton's Funeral Home then wrote again:

(Redacted) has been deceased for over three months since 8/8. I am re-attaching the documents. We need these documents to be signed so we can cremate him. And you've been aware since 9/21. These people that have been deceased need to be taken care of because they still deserve dignity and respect though out this whole process and waiting this long is highly inappropriate.

On April 15, 2024 Rebekah Rosas of FitzHenry's Funeral Home wrote:

I have sent you documents to sign for (redacted) again. I sent you the documents several weeks ago and they were never signed. We came by your office and you were not available to sign them. I have just resent them. Please sign off right away as the decedent passed away in early February or we will have to contact our attorney. We are far past the time that this should have been completed.

Then on April 18, 2024 Rosas wrote again:

We have had to reach out to our attorney. Please sign these documents. I have resent them to you.

On April 10, 2024 Carlen Thomas of Walton's Funeral Home wrote:

Can you please sign and return this cremation authorization. Poor Mr. (Redacted) has been here in our mortuary since November 21st last year. This is the third request to have this signed. I am happy to talk with you or answer any questions. Thank you in advance for you attention in this matter.

When asked how many indigent cases Hoen currently has pending as of July 10, 2024, Hoen said he didn't know.

"I will give you a number tomorrow afternoon – I have three cases that I am working on before I became the Clerk Recorder," Hoen wrote. "You become the Public Administrator with no training and you just have to figure it out with legal assistance. You basically are a private investigator trying to find those heirs of the deceased to lay the person to rest. I have tools to search for heirs and it is sad how many I finally connect with that are estranged from their family member that passed away. Many times I am told that there are no heirs or are given very limited information to start working on a case. Too many times they want me just to sign and accept responsibility but I uncover heirs but that just takes time to call and reach out and have a conversation."

Despite Hoen's claims, however, according to his own emails with the funeral homes on these 39 cases, only twice did he mention having potentially found heirs, though none of the cases he mentioned ended up being cleared from indigent status.

Payments

While the majority of bodies were finally cremated, what funeral homes are still dealing with is attempting to receive payment for their cremations.

Of the 39 cases, nearly half are still awaiting payment from the city. For those that have received payment, processing time lasts months — or even longer.

In one case, a man who died in November 2022 was finally cremated February 25, 2023. However, the payment for his cremation was not received until February 29, 2024 — a full 15 months after the man died.

One reason could be communication — several funeral home representatives seemed confused as to who would be paying for the services, and appeared to be bounced back and forth between several departments.

Another could be that incorrect information was provided by Hoen.

Carson City’s Mary Jane Ostrander, human services division manager, confirmed that invoices are meant to come directly to her from the funeral homes.

In emails sent in 2023, Hoen told the funeral homes to send invoices to him directly.

When asked whether or not this issue had been fixed, and whether invoices were still being sent through the PA’s office, Ostrander did not respond.

To date, Ostrander said 16 of the cases she has never received an invoice for.

Tomorrow we will be releasing a second follow up including questions answered by Hoen on his role as Public Administrator, how he spends his time, and the issues he is facing within the department.