The statement from the funeral home’s lawyer said Perry was not involved with the body donation program. “Perry Funeral Home received these remains from local hospitals who had indicated to Perry that the remains were ‘unclaimed’ by the parents,” it said. “In other words, the hospitals had informed Perry that the hospitals had reached out to the parents by certified mail and/or by phone, and the families did not respond. We do not believe that any of these remains involve families that paid Perry for funeral services.” In a statement emailed on Friday, Wayne State University said it had become aware of the lawsuit only recently. “Without offering an opinion on the lawsuit itself, we believe the claim against the university is baseless and we will be moving soon to dismiss it,” it added. A spokeswoman for the Detroit Medical Center, where Alayah was born, could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday but told The Detroit News that it was against its policy to discuss pending litigation. On Oct. 12, news broke that infants’ remains had been found hidden in the ceiling of another funeral home — the Cantrell Funeral Home, which had been shuttered in April. The news reached Alayah’s family, which encouraged Mr. Parks to share their concerns about Perry Funeral Home with the police, which he did. In a news conference on Friday, Chief James Craig of the Detroit Police Department said the two funeral homes did not appear to be connected, and that officials may form a task force to investigate how human remains are stored and documented in the area. “This is larger than we might know,” he said. Daniel W. Cieslak, another lawyer representing Alayah’s mother, said in an interview on Friday that based on documents he had seen while investigating this case, there could be hundreds of fetuses’ remains in the custody of Perry Funeral Home.<doc-sep>(CNN) — 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.” Attorney for funeral home defends actions 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.” Perry Funeral Home’s lawyer, Joshua I. Arnkoff, said in a statement that the funeral home has acted within the law. “Perry Funeral Home has been serving the Detroit community for decades and has been a reputable, reliable and caring member of the community. The allegations being made through the press are inaccurate,” Arnkoff said. The allegations involve “unclaimed infant remains” from local hospitals, Arnkoff said, which occurs when families do not respond to hospital requests. He said he did not believe any of these remains involved families that had paid for funeral services. “In the case of unclaimed remains, a funeral home cannot bury remains without proper authorization, and the law in Michigan sets forth a hierarchy for authority,” Arnkoff said. “Perry relied upon and operated within that hierarchy, but Perry never received the legal authority necessary to conduct a final disposition of the remains.” 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. 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 immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Craig said his department has not yet spoken with Cantrell, but that they expect to do so “at the appropriate time.” Charges have not yet been filed, 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 is working to identify the remains and notify any families, but the state of the remains, some of which are in “mummified conditions,” is making the process difficult. CNN’s Laura Ly, Augusta Anthony, Evan Simko-Bednarski, Kwegyirba Croffie and Amir Vera contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
A Detroit funeral home was shut down Friday after state inspectors said they found the unrefrigerated remains of dozens of deceased infants and fetuses, the second such discovery in the city in recent weeks. Authorities raided the Perry Funeral Home in response to a complaint and discovered the remains of 63 deceased bodies inside three boxes and a deep freezer, the Detroit Free Press reported. Some had been dead since 2015, according to a statement from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. "I’ve never seen anything (like this) in my 41 and a half years," James Craig, Detroit's police chief, said. Craig said authorities were tipped off about the funeral home by a father involved in a civil suit over the alleged improper burial of his daughter. Remains were turned over to state investigators, who declared the business closed and its license suspended, officials said. Other violations included failing to obtain permits to remove or bury the remains before interment or disposal and obtaining possession or embalming the deceased bodies without being authorized to do so, the statement said. Failure of a funeral home to properly dispose of a dead body after more than 180 days is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines. Arrangements were being made to relocate a service previously scheduled at the funeral home. Friday’s raid comes after another Detroit funeral home was shuttered after the remains of 11 infants were discovered in the ceiling, authorities said. Several days later, more remains were allegedly found on that property, bringing the total amount to 38, according to the Detroit News.