Human Remains Found Under Former Home of Crematory Case Suspect

Ed Shain and his family used to joke about what might be buried under the house they rent in a quiet Glendora neighborhood.

The house was the former residence of Pasadena funeral home operator David Sconce, who, along with his parents, has been charged with 67 felony and misdemeanor counts, including selling body parts, mutilating bodies, stealing dental gold from corpses and commingling human remains.

But after the discovery this week of a pile of charred bones, teeth and prosthetic devices, Shain said no one is joking anymore.

“We have no idea what else is in the yard,” Shain said Wednesday. “We’re moving out of here as soon as we can.”

Boxes Full of Evidence

After two days of searching the crawl space under the house in the 1100 block of East Comstock Avenue, Glendora police have filled two 20-inch-by-11-inch boxes with charred dentures, dental bridges, skull bones, embalming tools, heart pacemaker wires, at least two dozen prosthetic devices and a soft drink can containing several teeth, said Sgt. Bob Bulot.

Bulot said police also found pieces of brick and fiberglass insulation that appear to have been part of a kiln or crematory. Police have been unable to identify any of the remains or ascertain how many bodies are involved, but they intend to use dental records to help in the identification.

Deputy Dist. Atty. JoAnn Glidden, who is handling the prosecution of the Sconces, said no one knows why the bones were thrown under the house or whether the discovery will lead to more charges against the Sconces. “It’s really a mystery,” she said, adding that new charges could include illegal commingling or disposal of human remains.

Timing Unclear

Bulot said police do not know how long Sconce lived in the house, owned by Mike Engwald of Glendora, before moving out in early 1987.

During a preliminary hearing in Pasadena Municipal Court that ended earlier this month, witnesses testified that Sconce made as much as $6,000 a month by selling dental gold from corpses to Gold, Gold, Gold, a Glendora company owned by Engwald.

Shain, who was replacing a screen over a crawl space entry when he spotted the remains, said he is concerned that more may be buried in his yard. Sconce had had the front and back yards bulldozed before moving out, according to Shain, a self-employed furniture salesman.

Police have no plans to dig up the yard at this point, Bulot said.

Sconce’s attorney, Roger Diamond, said he has not spoken to his client about the discovery. He said Sconce had no reason to put the remains under the house because he operated a crematory and could have disposed of them there.

The discovery of the remains is the latest twist in the investigation of Sconce, 32, and his parents, Jerry Wayne Sconce, 54, and Laurieanne Lamb Sconce, 52, who operated the Lamb Funeral Home, one of Pasadena’s oldest and most respected funeral homes.

The family has been under investigation since January, 1987, when authorities discovered an unlicensed crematory in Hesperia that prosecutors say the Sconces started in late 1986 after the funeral home’s crematory in Altadena burned down.

The charges against the Sconces include illegally harvesting eyes, hearts, lungs and brains for sale to a scientific supply company, conducting mass cremations, falsifying death certificates and embezzling funeral trust account funds.

David Sconce also has been charged with assaulting three morticians who voiced suspicions about the family’s cremation operation, soliciting the murder of his grandparents so his mother could inherit the business and soliciting the murder of Deputy Dist. Atty. Walt Lewis, who was handling the prosecution of the case.

The Sconces, who are scheduled to be arraigned in Pasadena Superior Court on Tuesday, have denied the allegations.