The mystery surrounding the illegal dumping of over 300 piles of human remains in the Las Vegas desert has taken a new turn as a local funeral home stepped forward on Wednesday to clean up the site. The ongoing federal investigation aims to uncover the identity of those responsible for this unsettling act.
The discovery initially made headlines when an individual stumbled upon the remains on July 28, in a desert stretch near Searchlight—a small community located roughly an hour south of Las Vegas along U.S. 95. He reported the find to KLAS, the local affiliate of NesNation, which first broke the story in August, revealing over 100 piles of cremated remains scattered across the area.
At that time, officials from the Bureau of Land Management confirmed the remains were indeed human cremains—a term specifically used for cremated human remains—and launched an active investigation into the matter.
In a significant development on Wednesday, Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries took action to remove approximately 315 piles from the desert. Their efforts also revealed an additional site with more remains, as highlighted in the original report by the 8 News Now Investigators.
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 KLAS’ 8 News Now Investigators.
Representatives from Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries removed approximately 315 piles from the desert. (KLAS)
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.”
Federal officials are investigating the discovery of more than 300 piles of cremated human remains left near a dirt road about an hour outside of Las Vegas. (KLAS)
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.”
The remains are not connected to McDermott’s Funeral Home, which the Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board closed in August.
Representatives from Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries removed approximately 315 piles from the desert. (KLAS)
Several sources have suggested to the 8 News Now Investigators that the remains came from another recently closed funeral home. A representative from that business, which is headquartered out of state, has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Tips can be submitted to the BLM at blm_law_enforcement@blm.gov. KLAS Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com.
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