Coroners: Murder victims’ families have to wait too long to bury loved ones

When 9-month-old Serenity Reedy was murdered in 2013, it took almost four months before a funeral could be held for the Richland infant.

While her family waited to say goodbye, her body was stored at the Benton County Coroner’s Office at the request of her killer’s defense attorney.

When a Franklin County teen mother and her 3-year-old son were shot and burned in a car in July, attorneys forced the family to wait almost two months to bury them.

Mid-Columbia coroners and funeral home directors say it has become common for homicide victims’ bodies not to be released for months, causing unnecessary pain for already grieving families.

The Washington Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners says most counties in the state release bodies much faster than Benton and Franklin counties.

“In my 16 years in the coroner’s office, I have never heard of one of our (victims) being held by a defense attorney or prosecutor,” said association president Tim Davidson, who is Cowlitz County’s coroner. “It sounds like over there you guys are the exception to the policy.”

Bodies in Benton and Franklin counties are eventually taken to the morgue in Benton County, where forensic pathologists from outside the area are flown in to perform autopsies.

The pathologists then issue autopsy reports, which are critical pieces of evidence in homicide cases.

However, the pathologists contracted with the counties don’t issue their final reports until after they have received the results of toxicology tests, which are routine in murder cases and can take up to 12 weeks to get back, officials said.

“The difference between now and the past is our (previous) pathologist would issue the autopsy report before the toxicology (results),” said Dan Blasdel, Franklin County coroner.

Defense attorneys are hesitant to allow the victims’ bodies to be released because autopsy reports — which can help determine if a second autopsy or additional tests are needed — haven’t been issued, officials said.

Defense attorneys end up asking the courts to withhold releasing bodies until at least the autopsy reports are turned over.

Blasdel and Benton County Coroner John Hansens told the Herald that second autopsies are rarely performed in murder cases.

Bodies used to be stored in coolers at the Benton County morgue until they could be released to funeral homes, officials said.

Blasdel has changed that policy in Franklin County. He said he’s releasing bodies to funeral homes after the autopsies are complete

However, defense attorneys can still step in and ask judges to stop bodies from being buried, which was recently done in the case of murder victim Eduardo Angon Del Villar.

Columbia Memorial Funeral Chapels and Gardens now charges the defense attorney in the case $50 a day because of the amount of time the body has been held, owner Kathryn Tate said.

Funeral homes storing the bodies for such long periods of time leads to deterioration, said Blaze Titus, owner of Hillcrest Memorial Center in Kennewick. In many cases, families can’t have viewings or open caskets because of the condition of the bodies.

Titus suggested funeral homes be allowed to embalm the bodies after autopsies to help preserve them for funerals.

Titus, who has been in the business for more than 25 years, told the Herald that the toll withholding bodies takes on victims’ families is heartbreaking.

“How can a family grieve?” he asked. “How can a family have their funeral service if day after day, month after month, they keep holding the body?”

Blasdel and Hansens agree that bodies are held too long and it brings added suffering to victims’ families, they said.

“They can’t get closure,” Blasdel said. “When the body is finally released and they think they can have the funeral, they are appalled at the condition of the body.”

Withholding bodies has been an ongoing problem in the area for some time, though it has come to light more recently with high-profile cases, Hansens said.

Officials in Benton County plan to meet soon to discuss the matter and see if there are solutions, he said.

“We are trying to come up with a policy and agreement that meets the needs of everybody involved,” he said.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 8:24 PM with the headline "Coroners: Murder victims’ families have to wait too long to bury loved ones."