Two Cemeteries Accused of Illegal Joint Cremations

Allegations that two Southern California cemeteries have conducted multiple cremations, commingling the ashes of the deceased and returning the commingled remains to unsuspecting relatives, will be investigated by the California Cemetery Board, a state official said Wednesday.

“Multiple cremation is absolutely inexcusable, intolerable and illegal, except in certain circumstances requiring written authorization of next of kin,” said John Gill, the board’s executive officer. “We will investigate.”

The two cemeteries, Evergreen Memorial Park in Riverside and Mt. View Cemetery in San Bernardino, were named in two class-action lawsuits filed by a Claremont law firm on behalf of plaintiffs whose parents had been cremated.

Neptune Society Also Named

The Neptune Society of Riverside and San Bernardino, owned and operated by Enviroscope Corp., also was named in one of the actions, which was filed in Riverside County Superior Court in October. The newest suit was filed Tuesday in San Bernardino County Superior Court.

Attorney Robert S. Kilborne told a press conference at the law offices of Herbert Hafif that cremated remains had been “used as fertilizer” and thrown into dumpsters at the Evergreen Crematory.

Kilborne spoke to reporters from behind a broad desk covered with bits of what the lawyer said were human bones found in dumpsters at the Riverside crematory over a period of several months.

Two cardboard boxes and a large plastic bag both purportedly containing human ashes were arranged on the floor alongside the desk, which also held a blackened pacemaker and color photographs of material around the base of plants and of overflowing trash containers.

Jason Rowe, a Van Nuys private investigator hired by the plaintiffs, said human ashes have been found in trash containers at Evergreen Crematory every month since September.

“You have a lot of people buried in the city dump,” Rowe said.

The boxed ashes of Kenneth Starling Ellis, who died Dec. 21, 1983, were found in a dumpster in November, according to Kilborne. The lawyer said Ellis’ parents said they had paid to have his remains inurned in 1983.

‘Grieving . . . All Over’

The lawsuit naming Evergreen was filed on behalf of Whittier resident Trina C. Karol, whose parents, William John Vorwerk and Phyllis Sheldon Vorwerk, were members of the Neptune Society-Riverside & San Bernardino. The Vorwerks were cremated at Evergreen under an agreement with the Neptune Society.

Karol came to suspect that her parents’ remains might not have been sprinkled at sea as arranged, she said Tuesday. “It just started the grieving process all over again.” And, she said, she brought suit.

The attorney representing the Neptune Society, David A. Prestholt, said his clients, Lars and Lucie de Jounge, had done “absolutely everything” in their power to correct what they identified as an irregularity in the cremation process at Evergreen Memorial Park and Mt. View Cemetery.

In a letter to Neptune Society members in October, 1986, the couple said that they had found that the two cemeteries were engaged in a “sifting” process during cremations, which resulted in some commingling of ashes, and that the practice had been stopped.

Neither he nor his clients were aware of the conditions alleged at Tuesday’s press conference, Prestholt said.

Always Collected

He expressed certainty that none of the remains of Neptune Society members had ever been thrown into the trash because, he said, the ashes were always collected after cremation and scattered, inurned or returned to family members.

Attorney Steven K. Beckett, who represents Evergreen Memorial Park, said he could not comment on any allegations because his clients had not been served with a copy of the October suit.

In San Bernardino, Fran Fossler, general manager of Mt. View Cemetery, said her organization also has not been served with the legal action filed Tuesday.

“As soon as we get some information, we will comment,” she said by telephone.

The suit was filed on behalf of Jon J. Gaw, whose father died in November, 1984, and was cremated at Mt. View. The action alleged that the body of the elder Gaw had not been “cremated with dignity” and that the ashes had been commingled with others.

No physical evidence was found at Mt. View, Kilborne said.