SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — Less than two weeks ago, a family brought ashes to the Sangamon County Coroner’s Office that they recently found did not belong to the deceased person they were told it was.

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon told WCIA that roughly 10 days ago, a family brought ashes to his office after they recently found out they did not belong to the person they were mourning. A friend told the family about Heinz Funeral Home, which has been under investigation for around two years regarding accusations that they were giving the wrong ashes to families and holding a body at the morgue for nearly a month, among other things.

The family realized that they had the wrong ashes because of a medallion they were given, Allmon said. He added that this family has had these ashes for a long time, and it could have been “years” before they found out of the error.

Allmon also said that since they were first made aware of an incident regarding incorrect ashes distributed, the funeral home had serviced 800 different people in which there could have been errors made.

Since the investigation began, Allmon told WCIA that his office was able to confirm approximately 80 families that officially received the wrong cremains. This doesn’t include families with cremains that don’t have medallions. Allmon said that in these cases, the families have no way of identifying the remains.

Allmon opened an investigation in September 2023 against Heinz Funeral Home, which was in turn handed over to Illinois State Police and was later passed along to the Macoupin County State’s Attorney’s Office. In conjunction with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations, Allmon’s office was able to permanently shut down the Carlinville funeral home.

Additionally, when the investigation began, there was no law in place stating that it was illegal for a funeral home to cremate the wrong remains and distribute them to a family. As a result, in collaboration with Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield), Allmon created the Integrity in Death Care Act.

The act was signed into law, and now anyone who knowingly distributes the wrong cremains to the rightful owners will be subject to a felony charge.

“In my opinion, rightfully so,” Allmon said. “These people have been through enough.”

WCIA reached out to the Macoupin County State’s Attorney’s Office for additional information but did not receive an immediate response.