NEWPORT BEACH : Washed-Up Remains Still Unidentified

Officials at a Sacramento funeral home spent Monday sifting through piles of records for the identity of a cremated person whose remains washed up in Newport Beach Sunday.

A clear plastic bag containing ashes and bone fragments washed ashore near 19th Street about 2 p.m. Sunday and was spotted by a Riverside resident, police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

A tag on the bag led police to the funeral home, Sacramento Memorial Lawn. A serial number--1329--for the remains showed that the body was probably cremated between five and 10 years ago, Gonis said.

“We have pinpointed that cremation to 1986, and we are going through about 1,000 records for that year, all in alphabetical order,” said Joe D’Ambrosio, manager of Sacramento Memorial Lawn. If the identity is not determined from the 1986 files, employees will start examining records for 1985 and 1987, he said.

D’Ambrosio said that remains from about one third of the cremations performed there are returned to family members, with the remainder scattered into the waters off San Francisco. He said the remains found Sunday were probably returned to the family because the funeral home does not leave ashes and bone fragments in the plastic bag when it deposits them at sea.

Gonis said he is not certain how the bag landed on the Newport shore, but speculated that some of the ashes and bone fragments may have remained in the bag after some of the remains were scattered years ago.

If the identity is not learned, the Police Department will hold the remains for 90 days before turning them over to the county coroner, Gonis said.