(Reuters) - The remains of more than 60 infants and fetuses were found stashed in a Detroit funeral home, police said on Friday, calling the discovery “deeply disturbing.”

The incident comes about a week after the badly decomposed bodies of 11 babies were found hidden in a false ceiling at a different funeral home in the Michigan city.

No connection between the two cases has yet been established, Detroit’s police chief said. He added city, state and federal investigators were looking to form a task force to investigate the improper storage of human remains.

Unrefrigerated boxes containing about 36 sets of remains were recovered from the Perry Funeral Home along with another 27 sets of remains in a freezer, police said.

“This is deeply disturbing,” Detroit Police Chief James Craig told reporters on Friday. “I have never seen anything like this in my 41-1/2 years (on the force), ever.”

Investigators are working to establish ages and identities.

An official with Perry Funeral Home, which offers burial and cremation services, declined to comment on the incident.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said in a statement it revoked the funeral home’s license and shut down the facility after inspectors “found heinous conditions and negligent conduct at the home.”

Police have also launched an investigation into the now defunct Cantrell Funeral Home, where the remains of the 11 babies were uncovered last week after authorities received an anonymous letter leading them to the remains.

Its former operators have not commented to media.

In April, state regulators found “deplorable, unsanitary conditions” at the same premises, including embalmed bodies in an unrefrigerated garage and other badly decomposed remains, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said in a statement at the time.

The funeral home was also accused of several licensing and financial violations, the agency said.</s>DETROIT — About 63 fetuses and infants have been removed from a Detroit funeral home, the second facility where remains have been improperly disposed.

Detroit police raided Perry Funeral Home on Friday and found the remains.

Jason Moon of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs says the remains were found in three unrefrigerated boxes. Also, additional remains were found in a deep freezer. Some of the bodies had dates of death in 2015.

Perry Funeral Home is the second such facility in Detroit where fetuses have been found. Several cremated remains were found by cleaning crews at the former Cantrell Funeral Home where mummified remains of 10 fetuses were discovered last week in a ceiling.

Police Chief James Craig says law enforcement agencies are considering forming a task force to investigate the issue, specifically targeting improper storage of remains and fraud.</s>About 36 fetuses and infants have been removed from a Detroit funeral home, the second facility where remains have been improperly disposed.

Detroit Police remove more than 63 infant remains from Perry Funeral Home in Detroit (WSYM / Inform)

DETROIT — About 36 fetuses and infants have been removed from a Detroit funeral home, the second facility where remains have been improperly disposed.

Detroit police raided Perry Funeral Home on Friday and found the remains.

Jason Moon of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs says the remains were found in three unrefrigerated boxes. Also, additional remains were found in a deep freezer. Some of the bodies had dates of death in 2015.

Perry Funeral Home is the second such facility in Detroit where fetuses have been found. Several cremated remains were found by cleaning crews at the former Cantrell Funeral Home where mummified remains of 10 fetuses were discovered last week in a ceiling.

Police Chief James Craig says law enforcement agencies are considering forming a task force to investigate the issue, specifically targeting improper storage of remains and fraud.</s>Authorities removed the remains of 63 fetuses from a Detroit funeral home and regulators shuttered the business amid a widening investigation of alleged improprieties at local funeral homes.Detroit Police Chief James Craig said officers found 36 fetuses in boxes and 27 others in freezers during Friday's raid at the Perry Funeral Home. He said he was stunned by the discovery, which came a week after the remains of 10 fetuses and one infant were discovered in a ceiling at Detroit's defunct Cantrell Funeral Home. Those remains were found after state regulators in Lansing received an anonymous letter.Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said the remains found at the Perry Funeral Home were turned over to state investigators, who immediately declared the funeral home closed and its license suspended.Inspectors for the State of Michigan's Corporations, Securities & Commercial Licensing Bureau said in a statement that they had found "heinous conditions and negligent conduct" at the Perry Funeral Home, including numerous failures to certify death certificates and obtain proper permits for burial.The agency's statement said Friday's findings point clearly toward criminal offenses of state laws regulating funeral homes that could be felonies "punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than $50,000 or both."Craig said the investigation into the Perry Funeral Home began after a man who has sued that business over its handling of remains of infants and fetuses saw coverage of the discoveries at the Cantrell Funeral Home and told his attorney to contact police.That lawsuit, filed in July, alleges that the Perry Funeral Home stored the remains of stillborn and live birth babies in the Wayne State University School of Mortuary Science morgue for up to three years without trying to notify parents, some of whom wanted to donate the bodies for medical research. It also alleges the funeral home may have fraudulently billed Medicaid, as well as the Detroit Medical Center, for burials it never performed.The attorneys in that suit, Peter J. Parks and Daniel W. Cieslak, said he believes many more infants remains may be found in the improper possession of the Perry Funeral Home, perhaps as many as 200, based on research of log books kept by the Wayne State University School of Mortuary Science."I'm really wondering where all the rest of them are," Cieslak said Friday.Craig said that law enforcement agencies were considering forming a task force to target improper storage of remains and fraud in the area.As part of investigators widening probe, Detroit police also raided another funeral home, the Q A Cantrell Funeral Home in suburban Detroit's Eastpointe, along with a home in Grosse Pointe Woods.The recent discovery of the 10 fetuses and one infant at the Cantrell Funeral Home came after state inspectors in April shuttered that business after finding 21 improperly stored bodies, some of them covered in mold, in the facility.Since April, 38 unattended bodies and 269 containers of cremated remains have been discovered in the facility.</s>DETROIT - Sixty-three fetus remains have been removed from Perry Funeral Home on Trumbull Avenue in Detroit, according to police.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig held a news conference Friday afternoon to announce the investigation into allegations of criminal behavior at the funeral home.

"Heinous conditions and negligent conduct" prompted the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to suspend the mortuary science licenses of Perry Funeral Home and its director Gary Deak, according to a news release from LARA.

LARA said that it found three unrefrigerated boxes containing the remains of approximately 36 deceased bodies of fetuses or infants. Officials also located a deep freezer containing an unknown number of deceased bodies. Some of the dates of death go back to 2015.

The funeral home did not certify and file death certificates for the dead bodies of the fetuses and infants within 72 hours of death. The failure to properly supervise the final disposition of a dead human body after agreeing to provide the services within 60 days of receiving the body is a criminal violation, according to LARA.

The funeral home allegedly embalmed the dead bodies of the fetuses and infants without first being given permission to do so by a relative of the deceased. LARA has an open investigation into the Perry Funeral Home and said it notified the Michigan Attorney General's office and Detroit police.

Jermont Terry was at the Perry Funeral Home Friday night and shared a live update to the Local 4 Facebook page. That video is embedded below, and also available HERE.

Last Friday 11 infant bodies were discovered hidden in the ceiling of the former Cantrell Funeral Home. Nine bodies were found in a cardboard box, two were found in caskets. It was an anonymous tip that helped uncover these remains.

The cremains of four people were found, this week, by someone working on the former funeral home.

The Cantrell Funeral Home was shut down for "deplorable conditions" in April after several violations, including decomposing remains, were found. LARA suspended its mortuary science establishment license.

The new building owner said he doesn't believe the basement was searched, and state officials said workers renovating the building might be the ones who find more remains.

Detroit police have an ongoing criminal investigation into the Cantrell Funeral Home.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have set up a task force to investigate the mishandling of infant remains by at least two Metro Detroit funeral homes.

Sources told Local 4 that investigators are going back into Cantrell Funeral Home and Perry Funeral Home on Detroit's west side, and police raided the Cantrell Funeral Home in Eastpointe.
• Officials say more human remains could be found inside former Cantrell Funeral Home
• Task force assembled to investigate mishandling of infant remains at Metro Detroit funeral homes

MORE: Help us investigate Cantrell Funeral Home</s>DETROIT - More than 30 fetus remains have been removed from Perry Funeral Home on Trumbell Avenue in Detroit, according to police.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig held a news conference Friday afternoon to announce the investigation into allegations of criminal behavior at the funeral home.

"Heinous conditions and negligent conduct" prompted the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to suspend the mortuary science licenses of Perry Funeral Home and its director Gary Deak, according to a news release from LARA.

LARA said that it found three unrefrigerated boxes containing the remains of approximately 36 deceased bodies of fetuses or infants. Officials also located a deep freezer containing an unknown number of deceased bodies. Some of the dates of death go back to 2015.

The funeral home did not certify and file death certificates for the dead bodies of the fetuses and infants within 72 hours of death. The failure to properly supervise the final disposition of a dead human body after agreeing to provide the services within 60 days of receiving the body is a criminal violation, according to LARA.

The funeral home allegedly embalmed the dead bodies of the fetuses and infants without first being given permission to do so by a relative of the deceased. LARA has an open investigation into the Perry Funeral Home and said it notified the Michigan Attorney General's office and Detroit police.

Jermont Terry was at the Perry Funeral Home Friday night and shared a live update to the Local 4 Facebook page. That video is embedded below, and also available HERE.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have set up a task force to investigate the mishandling of infant remains by at least two Metro Detroit funeral homes.

Detroit police have an ongoing criminal investigation into the Cantrell Funeral Home where the remains of 11 infants and the cremains of four people were found.

Cantrell Funeral Home had its license suspended in April for mishandling bodies. In August, a tipster told the state they would find more remains in the building. Last week, a tip directed inspectors to exactly where those bodies were hidden.
• Officials say more human remains could be found inside former Cantrell Funeral Home
• Task force assembled to investigate mishandling of infant remains at Metro Detroit funeral homes

MORE: Help us investigate Cantrell Funeral Home</s>A funeral home in Detroit has been shut down after police on Friday discovered remains of numerous fetuses that had been improperly stored, according to officials.

Police discovered three unrefrigerated boxes containing "36 deceased bodies of fetuses or infants plus a deep freezer containing an unknown number of additional deceased bodies" at the Perry Funeral Home, according to a press release from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).

The license for the funeral home and the license of its director Gary Deak have since been suspended.

Deak did not immediately respond to a request for comment made by NBC News.

However, the Detroit Free Press reported that another 27 remains were found in freezers, totaling 63 fetus remains found within the funeral home.

Some of the remains date back to 2015, according to LARA, which described the funeral home as being in "heinous conditions and negligent conduct."

Perry Funeral Home also failed to certify and file death certificates for the bodies of fetuses and infants within 72 hours of death, according to LARA. In some cases, the home embalmed remains without the knowledge or consent of the families, the department said.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said during a press conference that the department was tipped off about the funeral home after a parent, involved in a civil suit over the improper burial of his daughter, saw another story about fetuses being improperly stored at the former Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit.

"It's because of the first story involving Cantrell that the second issue emerged," Craig said.

Earlier this month, the decomposing bodies of 10 fetuses and a baby were found above a ceiling of Cantrell Funeral Home.

Craig said he had "never seen anything" like what was discovered at the two funeral homes.

“I hope this is isolated to these two," Craig said. "I can’t say that with certainty, and so this is much larger than we might know."

Craig did not specify if families believed the remains had been buried or returned to them, and how that was accomplished. The remains recovered on Friday are now in custody of the state.

Craig said a criminal investigation into the funeral home is ongoing.</s>
• Detroit police found 63 remains of infants and fetuses at a funeral home – just days after discovering the remains of 11 babies at a separate funeral home.
• Police Chief James Craig told reporters he couldn’t say with certainty that the incident was isolated to just two funeral homes. “This is much larger than we might know,” he said.
• Investigators originally found the remains of 11 stillborn babies concealed in a funeral home’s “false ceiling,” after they received an anonymous letter tipping them off.

Detroit police on Friday announced they had found dozens more remains at a funeral home just days after uncovering the corpses of 11 infants concealed in the ceiling of a separate, defunct funeral home.

Authorities said they found remains of 63 infants and fetuses at the Perry Funeral Home, 36 of which were found in boxes and 27 in freezers.

“This is deeply disturbing,” Police Chief James Craig told reporters at a press conference. “I am committed to get to the truth. I’m committed to following the evidence.”

Craig said the police department’s phone was “ringing off the hook” since the original discovery of 11 remains last week, adding that it’s possible there are more remains at different establishments yet to be found.

“I would like to look at you and tell you I hope not,” Craig told one reported. “I hope that it is isolated to these two. I can’t say that with certainty. So this is much larger than we might know.”

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said Friday it suspended the mortuary science licenses of Perry Funeral Home and its director, The Detroit News reported.

The original discovery of 11 corpses came after authorities received an anonymous letter tipping them off about the Cantrell Funeral Home, which had been closed for months due to “deplorable conditions,” according to The Detroit News.

Investigators then reportedly found the remains of 11 stillborn babies concealed in a “false ceiling” between the first and second floors of the building. Nine of those infants’ bodies were in cardboard boxes, and two were inside a trash bag, which in turn was inside a infant-sized casket.

Craig said Friday that the investigation into the second funeral home came after authorities received a second tip from a parent who had heard a media report of the first discovery of remains.</s>DETROIT, Mich. — Michigan authorities say they’ve found improperly kept remains of fetuses and infants at a second Detroit funeral home, just one week after similar remains were found at the first.

Police and license inspectors found the remains of 63 fetuses or infants — some of whom died three years ago — at Perry Funeral Home on Friday, the Detroit Police Department said.

Inspectors raided the funeral home in response to a complaint, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said, without releasing details of the complaint.

Thirty-seven of the dead fetuses or infants were found in three unrefrigerated boxes, police and the regulatory department said. Twenty-six were in a freezer, police said.

Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said it has suspended the funeral home’s mortuary science license because of “multiple violations of Michigan’s public health and occupational codes and an imminent threat to the public health and safety.”

Police have not said any charges have been filed; Detroit Police Chief James Craig said his department is investigating.

“I am committed to get to the truth,” Craig said Friday, according to CNN affiliate WDIV. “… This is deeply disturbing.”

Michigan law says funeral directors generally must supervise a body’s final disposition within 60 days of receiving it. Those who don’t may be found guilty of at least a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in prison.

For bodies improperly kept beyond 180 days, a director could be charged with a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Some of the 63 sets of remains found at Perry Funeral Home on Friday were fetuses or infants that died in 2015, Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said.

Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said the funeral home also failed to certify and file death certificates “for the dead bodies of the fetuses and infants for whom they assumed custody with the appropriate governmental authority within 72 hours of death.”

A man who answered the phone at Perry Funeral Home on Saturday afternoon declined to comment for this story.

Other remains found at another funeral home last week

Friday’s discovery came a week after Licensing and Regulatory Affairs workers discovered the remains of 10 fetuses and one infant in a drop-down ceiling of a separate, former funeral home in Detroit.

The site of that former business — the Cantrell Funeral Home — was raided October 12 in response to an anonymous letter, authorities said.

That marked Licensing and Regulatory Affairs’ third visit to the premises in only a few months.

Cantrell Funeral Home was shut down in April by Licensing and Regulatory Affairs for multiple violations, including improper storage of embalmed bodies, with two in an advanced stage of decomposition, according to a press release.

In August, an anonymous phone call led Licensing and Regulatory Affairs investigators back to the building, where one fetus and some cremated remains were found, Craig said.

After the remains of 10 fetuses and one infant were found on October 12, a cadaver-trained police dog searched the building and no additional bodies were located, Detroit Police Lt. Brian Bowser said.

“Detroit Police Department has opened a criminal investigation on allegations of a felony,” Craig said a press conference Monday. The investigation into that felony charge — failure to supervise the final disposition of a dead body within 180 days — will involve an interview with Raymond Cantrell II, who owned the former funeral home, Craig said.

Details about why the remains were being stored at Perry Funeral Home and the former Cantrell Funeral Home, or whether the cases are in any way related, weren’t immediately available.

Cantrell did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Charges have not yet been filed in the Cantrell Funeral Home case, but Craig said he has been in touch with both the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the Wayne County prosecutor about what the next steps might be.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office said it is working to identify the Cantrell Funeral Home remains and notify any families.</s>DETROIT (AP) — Police have removed the remains of 63 fetuses from a Detroit funeral home in a widening investigation of alleged improprieties at local funeral homes.

Officers found 36 fetuses in boxes and 27 others in freezers during Friday’s raid at the Perry Funeral Home. Detroit police Chief James Craig said he’s “stunned” by the grisly discovery.

Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs says the remains were turned over to state investigators, who immediately declared the business closed and its license suspended.

The find came a week after the remains of 10 fetuses and one infant were discovered at Detroit’s defunct Cantrell Funeral Home.

Police also raided the QA Cantrell Funeral Home in suburban Eastpointe on Friday.

Craig says law enforcement is considering forming a task force to target improper storage of remains and fraud.
The number of remains of babies, fetuses found stashed in Detroit funeral home rises to now more than 60.