Discovery of Human Remains in Searchlight Desert Leads to Recovery Efforts

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A federal probe is underway to uncover the mystery behind the dumping of over 300 piles of human remains in the desert near Las Vegas. On Wednesday, a local funeral home took action to retrieve them.

The situation first came to light when 8 News Now Investigators reported the presence of over 100 piles of cremated remains back in August. The discovery was made by an individual who happened upon these ashes on July 28 in a secluded desert area near Searchlight, a small town situated roughly an hour south of the Las Vegas valley along U.S. 95.

In August, an official from the Bureau of Land Management confirmed that the piles indeed consisted of human cremains and stated that an investigation was ongoing. The term “cremains” is used to refer to cremated human remains.

On Wednesday, Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries dispatched representatives to remove about 315 piles from the desert location. Additionally, a second site containing similar piles was identified near the initial discovery location, as reported in the original investigation by 8 News Now.

What are generally referred to as “ashes” are pulverized bone, which are left over after a person is cremated.

“I think most of us just felt like, ‘What a shame,’” said Celena DiLullo, the president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.

Each pile represents a person who lived in the Southern Nevada community. The piles are likely the work of a commercial funeral home business, several sources confirm to the 8 News Now Investigators.

DiLullo and other Palm employees moved each pile into a bag and into an individual urn during the recovery effort on Wednesday.

There is no law in Nevada barring a person from scattering ashes on public land. State law requires funeral operators to preserve the “dignity” of any remains in their care. BLM policy allows for a person to scatter cremated remains; however, the policy limits “commercial distribution of cremated remains.” A mass dumping site, like this one, likely violates federal law.

“I don’t know if it was the wishes of these people to be out, so that’s kind of what goes through my mind,” DiLullo said. “If this is not how they would want to be remembered, we would just want to have a place for them to be.”

Palm will place all 315 remains into a crypt at one of its cemeteries so loved ones can find them, DiLullo said. Each pile no longer contained any identifiable information as of Wednesday. In August, some piles contained pieces of zip ties, which crematories use to close bags of ashes. Pieces of a broken urn also littered part of the site.

“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” DiLullo said. “It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we do care about these people.”

Several sources have suggested to the 8 News Now Investigators that the remains came from a recently closed funeral home. A representative from that business, which is headquartered out of state, has repeatedly denied any involvement.

The remains are not connected to McDermott’s Funeral Home, which the Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board closed in August.

Tips can be submitted to the BLM at blm_law_enforcement@blm.gov.

8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com.