Inspectors find numerous decomposing bodies behind hidden door at
Colorado funeral home
[August 22, 2025]
By MATTHEW BROWN and COLLEEN SLEVIN
DENVER (AP) — State inspectors in Colorado found about 20 decomposing
bodies behind a hidden door in a funeral home owned by a county coroner,
who told them he may have given fake ashes to next of kin who sought
cremations, authorities disclosed Thursday.
The bodies were discovered in a room behind a door hidden by a cardboard
display during an inspection of Davis Mortuary in Pueblo, about 110
miles (177 kilometers) south of Denver. Inspectors found a “strong odor
of decomposition” after arriving at the business on Wednesday. Brian
Cotter — the owner and Pueblo County coroner — had asked them not to
enter the room, according to a document from state regulators.
Colorado long had some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the
nation, with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for
funeral home operators. That has allowed numerous abuses, including a
pending case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies that were found
stored at room temperature in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about 30
miles (48 kilometers) from Pueblo.
A sentencing in that case of one of the funeral home’s owners for corpse
abuse is set for Friday.
The discovery in Pueblo came during the first inspection of Davis
Mortuary under rules adopted last year in response to prior crimes
within Colorado's funeral industry.
Before the law changed, funeral homes could only be inspected if a
complaint had been filed against them. Davis Mortuary did not have any
complaints, said Sam Delp, director of the Division of Professions and
Occupations in the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.
Cotter told inspectors that some of the bodies had been awaiting
cremation for about 15 years, according to the document from state
regulators that explained why the state suspended the mortuary’s
registration.
“This is a profound violation of trust and a heartbreaking betrayal of
the families who entrusted their loved ones to this funeral home,”
Colorado Bureau of Investigation director Armando Saldate III said.
The estimate of 20 bodies in the room came from funeral home staff. The
corpses were not immediately removed, and authorities said as a result,
they did not yet have a precise number.
Investigators on Thursday were collecting evidence with the help of
state troopers trained in responding to hazardous materials, Saldate
said, noting that they were “respectfully and humanely” handling the
bodies.
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This image from video provided by KRDO13 shows Davis Mortuary in
Pueblo, Colo., on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, where state inspectors
found decomposing bodies behind a hidden door. (KRDO13 via AP)
Cotter has not been arrested, and Pueblo County District Attorney
Kala Beauvais said no charges have been filed as the investigation
continues.
A woman who answered the phone at the mortuary said it had no
comment and declined to make Cotter available for an interview.
Cotter did not immediately respond to a message left with the
coroner’s office.
Cotter and his brother, Chris, bought Davis Mortuary in 1989,
according to the business’s website. It said the brothers brought
with them an “old school” way of operating that they learned from
their father, who owned and operated funeral homes in Colorado,
Kansas and Nebraska.
In most states, funeral homes are routinely inspected, but for many
years, no such rules were on the books in Colorado.
Owners of a funeral home in Grand Junction, Colorado, were convicted
in 2022 of selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes. In yet
another case, a woman’s body was found last year in the back of a
hearse where a suburban Denver funeral home had left it for over a
year. At least 30 sets of cremated remains were found stashed
throughout that funeral director’s home.
Colorado lawmakers last year approved changes intended to tighten
oversight, bringing the state in line with most other states. One
requires regulators to routinely inspect funeral homes and gives
them more enforcement power. Another implements licensing for
funeral directors and other workers in the industry. They would need
to pass background checks and a national exam while possessing
degrees and work experience.
Previously, funeral home directors in Colorado didn’t have to
graduate from high school, let alone have a degree.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
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