A state investigation did not find a Bellingham funeral home at fault after human remains were improperly stored there over a weekend this spring.
Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory Center was investigated by the state Funeral and Cemetery Board after the Washington Department of Licensing received two complaints from other funeral homes about the conditions of two human remains ahead of burial in May.
At the time, Moles was acting as the temporary morgue space for the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office.
During the course of the investigation, the state reviewed the lease between the ME’s Office and Moles, interviewed employees and reviewed an independent inquiry launched by Whatcom County into what happened over the weekend in May.
A member of the Funeral and Cemetery Board, who was the case manager for the investigation, concluded the ME’s Office had jurisdiction over the remains and that Moles was not at fault for the condition of the bodies. The board voted unanimously during its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20 to approve the findings.
“We’re grateful that the Funeral and Cemetery Board agreed with our position that the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office was responsible for the two decedents,” said John Moles, president of Moles Farewell Tributes, in a statement to Cascadia Daily News.
The 24-page report published by Bundy Law Group in August found the ME’s Office had failed to properly notify the funeral homes about the conditions of the remains left out over the weekend and that ME employees knew the remains had been improperly stored.
The state in its investigation also found that the ME’s Office had asked Moles to transport the remains to its secondary overflow location in Ferndale, but Moles was too busy to do the transport.
There was no evidence the ME’s Office made arrangements to transport the remains and instead left them covered in a garage, according to the state investigation.
That lines up with the Bundy report where the investigator could not verify if the ME’s office communicated with Whatcom County about the need for a refrigerated truck to store the remains.
The report could not conclude if the former Whatcom Medical Examiner Allison Hunt knew about the storage problem but that it seemed likely she may have known about it through her operations manager Deborah Hollis.
The ME’s office also failed to keep records of where one of the bodies was after its autopsy, an allegedly repeated occurrence that left many funeral homes frustrated on many occasions, according to the investigation report.
As a result of the county inquiry, Hunt was removed from her ME position in September.
Aldo Fusaro is currently serving as the interim ME. He will become the full-time ME in December after the Whatcom County Council voted to accept his confirmation.
Fusaro is a forensic pathologist with active medical licensure in Washington and Montana. Prior to serving in Montana, he worked as an associate medical examiner for King County from 2005 to 2017 and worked in the Office of the Cook County Medical Examiner in Illinois. He attended medical school at Des Moines University and also taught at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Rush Medical College.
County Council is also working toward establishing the Medical Examiner’s Office as a county department. For years, ME services have been handled as an independent contractor.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
