Over the last 15 months, 52 unclaimed bodies of U.S. military veterans accumulated at the Los Angeles County morgue because nobody arranged transportation to Riverside National Cemetery for burial, The LA Times reports
As of Thursday, the county could not explain why. "All the people who touched this process are working together to figure out how this occurred," said county spokesman David Sommers.
The problem reportedly began in 2013, after Rose Hills Mortuaries in Alhambra, which transported the bodies of homeless veterans under a charity program, started turning down some bodies that it said did not meet eligibility requirements. All the people who touched this process are working together to figure out how this occurred.
Jessica McDunn, a spokesperson for Rose Hills' parent company, Service Corp. International of Houston, said that the program is limited to homeless veterans and that Rose Hills does not accept a body if the deceased's family has been located, even if the family is unwilling to claim the remains.
