Coroner Provides Update on Funeral Home Investigation

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon has provided an update on the investigation into a Carlinville funeral home.

On September 25th, Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon launched an inquiry into Heinz Funeral Home / Family Care Cremations in Carlinville following a shocking discovery, a deceased woman left unattended in a hospital morgue for nearly a month. Despite assurances from Heinz Funeral Home, the family had been misled about their loved one's cremation.

During the investigation, three severely decomposed bodies were found at the funeral home, all Sangamon County residents who had died the previous month. Disturbingly, over 40 sets of cremains, some unlabeled were retrieved from the premises. The investigation has triggered an avalanche of complaints from families across multiple counties, indicating a possible broader, alarming pattern of misconduct.

To date, the Coroner’s Office has received dozens more sets of cremains from families that were given to the wrong cremains. Over the last week, the Coroner’s Office has fielded hundreds of calls.

On Thursday, the office was notified that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations revoked the license of August Heinz of Heinz Funeral Home / Family Care Cremations, a decision Allmon supports.

Allmon says the Coroner's Office is now diligently working to reunite families with their loved ones' remains and rectify incorrect death certificates in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Public Health.