Relatives set to reclaim cremated remains found in recycling yard
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CHEHALIS, Wash. - The cremated remains that mysteriously turned up in a Lewis County recycling yard may soon return to their rightful owner.
KOMO News has tracked down a family member in Eastern Washington who is now in touch with the Lewis County coroner's office to see if the families are a match.
The remains were discovered by recycling employees who had found what appeared to be an ornate ceramic base to some type of item. Inside the base were three labeled plastic bags containing the cremated remains of three individuals.
The recycling company notified the Coroner's Office, which determined the ceramic base could have been part of a sundial or some other type of decorative object.
Further investigation revealed the names, dates of birth and dates of death of the three individuals, along with the funeral home involved in the cremation. But due to the passage of time, the funeral home no longer had accurate records about the individuals' next of kin.
The three deceased individuals are
• Marjorie Boyer; born April 16, 1926; died Feb. 4, 2004.
• Wayne Nesteby; date of birth unavailable; died Sept. 26, 1997.
• Emmett Robert Nesteby; born Feb. 12, 1923; died Feb. 8, 2000.
"Due to two of the decedents having the same last name, we are assuming all decedents are from the same family," Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said.
It appears that the sundial or other decorative object had been thrown out and it is quite possible the person who did so was not aware that the object contained cremated remains, McLeod said.
Originally, the only contact that had been located for the family is Emmett Nesteby's daughter, who officials could only find a Portland address from 2000 that is no longer valid.
KOMO News has tracked down a family member in Eastern Washington who is now in touch with the Lewis County coroner's office to see if the families are a match.
The remains were discovered by recycling employees who had found what appeared to be an ornate ceramic base to some type of item. Inside the base were three labeled plastic bags containing the cremated remains of three individuals.
The recycling company notified the Coroner's Office, which determined the ceramic base could have been part of a sundial or some other type of decorative object.
Further investigation revealed the names, dates of birth and dates of death of the three individuals, along with the funeral home involved in the cremation. But due to the passage of time, the funeral home no longer had accurate records about the individuals' next of kin.
The three deceased individuals are
• Marjorie Boyer; born April 16, 1926; died Feb. 4, 2004.
• Wayne Nesteby; date of birth unavailable; died Sept. 26, 1997.
• Emmett Robert Nesteby; born Feb. 12, 1923; died Feb. 8, 2000.
"Due to two of the decedents having the same last name, we are assuming all decedents are from the same family," Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said.
It appears that the sundial or other decorative object had been thrown out and it is quite possible the person who did so was not aware that the object contained cremated remains, McLeod said.
Originally, the only contact that had been located for the family is Emmett Nesteby's daughter, who officials could only find a Portland address from 2000 that is no longer valid.
ihpawbd,iftpubantkdhtdaecticm.c)
(i have pre-arranged a whole body donation, in fact they pick up body and now the kids dont have to do anythingexcept call them,its called medcure.com)
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@feral lol
Soylent green is people!
@xilef regnu lol
Looks like I need to get busy when I get home from work.
@theprodigal lol
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@Dr. Rawdog LOL
I had a friend who owned a funeral home, she told me some crazy stories.. Some families don't want the remains, in one case the wife told the funeral director to just throw them out with the trash...
@dougrpdx S (sheesh)
@dougrpdx The cremains of my mother, father and grandmother were found in a storage unit (along with cremains of about 200 people) of a pilot who claimed he'd scattered them at sea.  Couldn't ask for any more information because he committed suicide right before the storage unit was located and opened.  That was before the days of "Storage Wars".
@Sundowner iiwyiwsgc (if it wasnt you i would suggest grief counselor)
@the rover It's been 20+ years and I didn't need a grief counselor even then!  We all decided they could just dispose of the broken down boxes (the cremains were mixed in with others -- cardboard box + humidity), we didn't want to "sift through" as it were.  Ehhh -- the whole ashes to ashes thing.