Apr 7, 2017 4 min read

It’s becoming more common in Washington County that no one steps forward to bury a friend or relative.

Judge Damon Faldowski last week considered a petition filed on behalf of Coroner Tim Warco to, in accordance with the Fourth-Class County Code, cremate five bodies at taxpayer expense.

The decedents are:

• Milbert Wolfe, 82,who lived in the 400 block of Jefferson Avenue, Waynesburg. Born March 1, 1934, she died Jan. 20 in Washington Hospital. The coroner attempted to donate Wolfe’s body to a human gifts program or to scientific study at a research institution, but they refused to accept it because of a potential health risk from disease.

• Randall Phillips, 44, last known address, Pike Street, Meadow Lands. He was born March 28, 1972, and died Sept. 12, 2016. His only relative, a brother, refused to accept the body, according to Warco. The coroner was notified of Phillips’ death by personnel from Canonsburg Ambulance.

• Lois Bartlebaugh, 84, who last lived on Kenric Avenue, Donora. The coroner was notified of her death by a hospice manager.

• Bruce Fancher, 56, died Nov. 3, 2016, six days before what would have been his 57th birthday, at Consulate Health Care of North Strabane, 100 Tandem Village Road, Canonsburg.

• Kevin Trombetta, 62, who was from the Mon Valley, last lived in the The Grove at Washington, 1198 W. Wylie Ave. According to court documents, “the only presumed kin are estranged from Trombetta and refused to cooperate. Human Gifts was unable to receive the body because kin refused to cooperate.”

The county code allows $300 per cremation.

Steve Toprani, solicitor for the coroner’s office, said the cremation alone can cost $375 or more and it does not include storage of the bodies beforehand. Toprani said in his court petition that the bodies had been stored at the Washington Cemetery crematory.

Toprani said Warco, who took office a quarter-century ago, told him in his first year or two as coroner, there may have been one unclaimed body, but that the number has been increasing lately. The Washington County controller’s office noted taxpayers paid for three cremations in 2015 and two last year.

“This is usually the last step in the process. These are all natural deaths,” said Toprani, noting that others who died in past years have included victims of opioid abuse.

The solicitor provided the court with copies of published notices seeking next of kin, a practice that will continue once the coroner’s office adopts a policy to limit the length of time it will hold bodies before cremation.

“We don’t have the storage capacity,” said Toprani, a former Washington County district attorney. “The bodies become biohazards. We don’t want to maintain them that long. Unfortunately, the law hasn’t been changed for decades.”

Various Pennsylvania counties have adopted time limits, while others handle the matters informally. Toprani said the time limit will probably not exceed 15 days after the coroner’s office has exhausted its means of notifying next of kin.

Statutes actually use the term “interment” in dealing with unclaimed bodies. In the case of an unclaimed body due to homicide, burial rather than cremation would be part of the protocol because of a possible exhumation.

He called it “societal” that family members shun the cost of cremating or burying the dead relative. After the cremations, the remains are maintained by the coroner’s office in case someone claims them. The coroner has also approached the county commissioners, Toprani said, about establishing a burial chamber for unclaimed ashes.