Anonymous letter leads to hidden infant remains at Detroit funeral home
Authorities have revealed an anonymously written letter led them to the decomposed remains of 11 infants hidden in a ceiling compartment of a shuttered Detroit funeral home.
On Friday, the fetuses were found together in a cardboard-like box while the full-term infant was in a coffin between the first and second floors of an eastside building that once housed the Cantrell Funeral Home, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said.
"They were definitely hidden," Craig said. "The way they were placed in ceiling, one would not have readily discovered them. In 41 1/2 years in policing, this is first time I've heard of anything like this."
Detroit police Lt. Brian Bowser said nine bodies were in a cardboard box and two were in trash bags in a single casket.
Bowser says officials have determined the names for some of the infants and would try to contact the families.
The funeral home has been closed since April, when state inspectors suspended its license following the discovery of bodies covered with what appeared to be mould.
No arrests have been made.
