A group of construction workers experienced a traumatic shock on Friday, October 12, when they discovered the remains of 11 child corpses hidden in the drop-down ceiling of the former Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit, Michigan.
The construction workers sent a letter to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) and investigators arrived on the scene that same day to confirm the presence of the bodies.
The construction workers were on site because the former funeral home is being renovated to become a community center. When the discovered the children, two were decomposing in caskets, but nine of the bodies were left in a cardboard box.
The infant's bodies were discovered in a drop-down ceiling. Police later ordered a full investigation of the premises, but no further bodies were found. The Wayne County Medical Examiner is still completing an autopsy on the 11 recovered remains.
Cantrell Funeral Home was shut down by LARA in April due to "multiple violations," including "improper storage of embalmed bodies, two of which were in an advanced stage of decomposition."
Raymond Cantrell, former owner of the funeral home, now lives out of state, but says he'd be willing to talk to investigators "if they call him." He claimed to have no previous knowledge of the bodies, and that he did not order his employees to hide them:
I didn't go and try to discover things. I was trying to go handling things at hand.
...
On behalf of my family I'm really sorry that it happened and totally appalled. The fact it occurred. I'm just thanking God it wasn't something I had any involvement in.
Twitter was absolutely appalled.
Many couldn't believe any person could know about what happened to the children's bodies and fail to report it.
Investigation around the children's bodies continues, and an autopsy to confirm they didn't die of any malicious intent is forthcoming.
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@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky