Families who choose cremation trust that the body of their loved one will be treated with respect, and that includes being cremated individually.
7NEWS' John Ferrugia obtained records which raise questions about the methods used at Olinger Hampden Mortuary, questions about whether the company is following its own procedures which prohibit cremating more than one set of remains in a chamber, without prior permission.
Detailed records brought Ferrugia to the case of the Redwood family.
When Andrew Redwood's twin boys were stillborn in July of last year, he and his wife, Keya, were devastated.
"I got tons of baby stuff in my basement. I mean, I so badly wanted these twins. Me, Andrew, both -- we really, really wanted these babies and, I mean, God took them away," said Keya.
"I never cried that much in my life," said Andrew.
The Redwoods turned the remains over to Olinger Hampden Mortuary and Cemetery for cremation. It is the largest crematorium in Denver and when you take the tour, as 7NEWS did with a hidden camera, you are told everything is done by the book. Each body is cremated separately, unless the family authorizes otherwise in writing.
"This department has no room for error, period," an employee had said in the undercover video.
That's what the Redwoods thought when they got two urns -- one for each of their children. But then, more than six months later, they received a phone call from Olinger.
"'Mr. Redwood, we just wanted to ask you if you knew the babies were cremated together, or if it was OK to cremate them together,'" Andrew Redwood said, recounting the conversation.
"He didn't understand that they were saying they had put them in the same chamber," said Keya.
"It seemed like they were notifying me that they cremated the babies six months after the fact," Andrew said.
Andrew said they hadn't told him before the fact that the babies were going to be cremated together.
What's more, the Redwoods say they never signed documents which the company requires, expressly authorizing the simultaneous cremation of remains in the same chamber.
"It was never discussed or even brought up or even slightly mentioned about them being together, never," said Keya. "They are two separate souls. Why should they have to be cremated together? It's disgusting to me. It really is."
Leah is a former employee of the crematorium. She has filed a discrimination charge which is pending against Olinger and its parent company, Service Corporation International, for wrongful termination. She went to her bosses earlier this year, well before the company notified the Redwoods, reporting the simultaneous cremation of the Redwood twins, which she says would co-mingle the remains.
She said she saw it happen.
"You have a blower in the back of the chamber. You have a blower in front of the chamber ... It will blow around and mix and you can't keep them separated. It would be impossible to keep them separated," Leah said.
In a letter to her, the company dismissed her concerns, implying the parents had given permission.
A company representative wrote, "This information was discussed with parents of these fetal twins."
But Leah claims, in her conversation with a top manager, the assurance went even further. She said they told her a release form had been signed, but she didn't believe it.
"There was no release forms signed for," Leah said.
In a letter to 7NEWS, Olinger's parent company, S.C.I., the nation's largest funeral company, said in part, "If two bodies are cremated simultaneously that is not necessarily inappropriate because families sometimes request cremation in that manner."
The company wrote, "We actually have a standard form that we present to families to confirm in writing that they are making such a request."
The company then admitted it cremated twins together in July 2003 and again April 2004, but seemed to imply it had written permission, stating, "Both families are well aware of these cremations."
"It's not the truth. I guess maybe because they called Andrew six months later, they feel like they can say, 'Oh they knew.' But, no, we didn't know. Nobody told us this. Nobody had us sign anything, no," Keya said.
And the Redwoods may not be the only family.
When Leah went to the company with her concerns about the cremation of the Redwood twins, she claims she also told her bosses about cremation logs, going back to 1993, detailing the date, time, and circumstance of every cremation at Olinger.
She said she was assigned to organize the logs.
"As I began going through the documents on several of them, I noticed that several cremations were in the same chamber at the same time and they were two cremations at the same time," Leah said.
In most cases, the logs seemed to indicate the two people being cremated were from different families, she said.
"I would see that they had two fetuses in the same chamber at the same time for the exact same amount of burning time," Leah said. "I also noticed there were several adults also cremated with fetuses."
7NEWS obtained copies of some of Olinger's cremation logs from 1993-2003. In about three dozen cases, the logs appear to indicate simultaneous cremations.
For example, on one date, the log indicates the remains of a 59-year-old man was put into Chamber No. 1 at 7. The remains were logged out of the chamber after burning for two hours. On the same day, at the same time, the log notes a 20-week-old baby was also put into Chamber No. 1. They had different last names.
Steve Metcalf is one of several former employees who reviewed and authenticated the copies of cremation logs. He said the logs have to be 100 percent accurate.
"This is my handwriting," said Metcalf, pointing to his initials.
While there is no record indicating he ever cremated two persons in the same chamber, the documents raise serious questions.
"They saw the opportunity and they put the fetus in at the same time to cremate with (the other body). May have been (to) save time. May have been to make things run more efficiently," said Metcalf.
7NEWS contacted the former operator who ran the crematorium for 19 years and still works for S.C.I. in another state. The records indicate that many simultaneous cremations took place during his tenure. While he refused an on-camera interview, he claimed in a phone conversation that he kept good records.
"If two persons were cremated together, would management know?" Ferrugia asked.
"I never did anything they didn't know about," he replied. Then he added, "Maybe I need a lawyer."
"Do you deny cremating two remains at once?" Ferrugia asked.
"I don't deny anything," he said. "I am not talking about it. I am not admitting anything."
"Do you agree it should stop?" Ferrugia asked.
"I agree it should. It's not right," he said.
For the Redwoods, and maybe for other Colorado families, there are many unanswered questions.
"It's sad. It really is. Even though I was trying to move on and get over it, when my husband told me that, it just really took me back right to that day, you know?" Keya said. "It's not fair. It's not fair."
"I love my boys to death and I wish they were here; and to come back six, seven months later and tell me, and I am hearing something like this, that is not right. That is not humane at all," Andrew said.
Officials from S.C.I., the parent company of Olinger, have refused 7NEWS' repeated requests for an on-camera interview, even though we have offered to show them all our documentation and give them ample time to investigate and respond.
In a letter, company officials wrote, "We have investigated these allegations thoroughly and have found no evidence of any cases of simultaneous cremation that have not been discussed with the client family."
Nevertheless, the notations in the logs raise serious questions about whether Olinger is following its own policy. That is why the attorney general is now reviewing the logs.
To be clear, while 7NEWS knows what happened in the Redwood case, we do not know whether it has happened to other Colorado families because we weren't there. We do believe the company should sit down and publicly explain both the Redwood case and these cremation logs.
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Family Upset After Learning About What Happened During Sons' Cremations
