‘It really tore me up’: Funeral home probation leaves southern Colorado woman questioning care of her father’s remains

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Losing a loved one is never easy, and for one Colorado woman, her loss was compounded by recent news of disturbing discoveries in funeral homes eroding her trust.

Renee Crippen’s father, Charles, was a Colorado Springs native who made a career in construction. Crippen said he always kept busy, be it at work, in his garden, painting cars or just generally finding something to tinker with.

“He was a stubborn guy,” she joked, “but he is well-loved, and we miss him tremendously, for sure.”

When he passed on New Year’s Eve, Crippen said she wanted to ensure he was laid to rest properly. But with recent news of discoveries at places like the Return to Nature funeral home and Davis Mortuary, she said she wanted to be thorough in her vetting process.

“I think, probably, previously, I wouldn’t have thought that much, I would have reached out for sure, but I probably wouldn’t have been as concerned,” she said.

Crippen said she used Evergreen Funeral Home, but after they took possession of her father’s remains, she went a while without hearing from them. So, she said she emailed a series of questions, which she said were answered, but she said something felt off.

“Just some inconsistencies that just kind of left me feeling unsettled,” she explained.

At the time, she said she was told by Evergreen that the funeral home was dealing with an influx of bodies coming in after the holidays.

El Paso County officials said they had a contract between county administrators, the coroner’s office and Evergreen. Typically, these contracts involve county officials working with a funeral home to handle the remains of people without family or whose family has no means to pay for burial or cremation services.

But county officials said Evergreen had requested to terminate its contract.

“The County was not notified of any investigation or inspection findings. When we asked Evergreen directly whether they were under investigation, they advised that they were in compliance with all applicable standards,” a county spokesperson said.

In January, the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies said they got an anonymous tip, which led to an inspection. In this, DORA said they found violations of state statutes. In a probation order, they said the funeral home stored more bodies than they had capacity for, kept them in temperatures warmer than what is allowed by the state, and had some inconsistencies in paperwork used to track who had custody of the bodies.

This led to Evergreen being placed on a year-long probation.

“The County was not notified and had no knowledge that Evergreen Funeral Home was operating above capacity,” a county spokesperson said.

For Crippen, this news was hard to hear.

“Seeing it is heartbreaking. It really tore me up,” she said.

She said she ultimately did get her father’s remains back, though, and was able to lay him to rest, but the news of the probation left her wondering what happened between his death and when she got those remains.

“My concern became, was he being taken care of properly and respectfully?” she said.

11 News spoke with the manager of Evergreen, who said his lawyers advised him not to speak with media.