I know Detroit has the highest rate of infant mortality in the world.
I also know the Detroit Medical Center is #1 in the world for peranatal research.
I also know Detroit has the highest concentration of child poverty.
I also know no one cares about trafficking tiny humans, in Detroit.
Just ask, "The Elected Ones."
Detroit Police have found what appear to be more cremated remains inside an abandoned funeral home on Dexter Avenue near Fenkell.
Detectives searched the basement of the former Howell Funeral Home this afternoon and found at least seven sets of cremated remains near the embalming room of the facility, which has been closed for several years.
The search was conducted after the Free Press forwarded a tip the newspaper received from a self-described "urban explorer," who'd been in the building and photographed the remains in boxes on a shelf. It is not clear when the photos were taken.
Sgt. Nicole Kirkwood confirmed late Wednesday that police executed a search warrant at the property but was waiting for details of what investigators found.
“We are reviewing this matter and will open a consumer complaint to begin an investigation,” said Jason Moon, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which regulates funeral homes.
The discovery is the latest twist in the investigation into funeral homes in Detroit where hundreds of unburied remains, including fetuses, have been found over several months.
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In October, investigators found the remains of 63 fetuses inside the Perry Funeral Home on Trumbull near West Warren. The state immediately suspended the funeral home's license and closed the facility.
That discovery came just a week after a similar at the defunct Cantrell Funeral Home on Mack Avenue on Detroit’s east side, where 11 infants’ remains were found after an anonymous letter arrived in the offices of state regulators in Lansing. Cantrell had been closed for months when those remains were found.
Those finds prompted Detroit Police Chief James Craig to create a task force to investigate the issue. Then-Gov. Rick Snyder also formed a state-level group to review the handling of human remains by funeral homes.
The former Howell Funeral Home was located in what appears to have been a family residence at one time. The yellow brick, two-story building sits across Dexter from the Joy Preparatory Academy, a charter elementary school.
The front door was open to trespass when police arrived Wednesday afternoon. State corporation records list Cynthia Howell as the registered agent for the business, but it's unclear when it closed. Howell could not be reached for comment.
The anonymous source who found the remains alerted the Free Press after reading previous accounts of other remains found in other area funeral homes.
"They have death certificates," said the man, who asked not to be identified because he was trespassing when he took the photos. "They were on the shelves in the basement in the old embalming room."
His photos show some of the boxes include the name of Ramsey Funeral Home and appear to have been from the early 2000s. The state records show no such funeral home currently in Detroit.
Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com. On Twitter @jwisely
Members of the public who have questions or concerns regarding the operation of Michigan’s funeral homes should contact LARA at 517-241-7000, or by email at funeralhomes@michigan.gov
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