Even death is unaffordable for some

Albert Gaskin, caretaker at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, looks over the cremated remains of unclaimed bodies. More people are finding themselves unable to pay the fee to claim a relative’s remains.

? The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones.

At the county coroner’s office — which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths — 36 percent more cremations were done at taxpayers’ expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.

The county morgue, which is responsible for the indigent and others who go unclaimed, saw a 25 percent increase in cremations in the first half of this year over the same period a year ago, rising to 680 from 545.

The demands on the county crematorium have been so high that earlier this year, officials there stopped accepting bodies from the coroner. The coroner’s office since has contracted with two private crematories for $135,000 to handle the overflow.

“It’s a pretty dramatic increase,” said Lt. David Smith, a coroner’s investigator. “The families just tell us flat-out they don’t have the money to do a funeral.”

Once the county cremates an unclaimed body — typically about a month after death — next of kin can pay the coroner $352 to receive the ashes. The fee for claiming ashes from the morgue is $466.

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Christopher Agosta’s ashes are among those waiting.

Last month, the coroner called his sister, Tarnya Baker, 41, of Amesbury, Mass., to notify her that Agosta, 43, of West Hollywood, had shot himself in the head. Although Baker was her brother’s next of kin, they had not spoken since he left Massachusetts for California 15 years ago. Only after he died did she learn that he was in debt. He shot himself as sheriff’s officials attempted to evict him. He left a note giving his possessions to the local AIDS clinic.

Baker said she wants to claim his ashes, but she and her husband have two children and a struggling glass-glazing business. During the past two years, they have had to lay off their two employees.

“I know that I can’t afford to handle all this,” Baker said. “I can’t afford to fly out there and ask questions.”

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Coroners and funeral directors around the country say they are seeing the same trend as cash-strapped families cope with funeral costs. Just claiming a body from the Los Angeles County coroner costs $200. Once a body is claimed, private cremations usually run close to $1,000, Smith said. Funeral homes charge an average of $7,300 to transport and bury a body in a simple grave, according to the National Funeral Home Directors Association.

“No one is immune from this,” said Bob Achermann, executive director of the California Funeral Directors Association in Sacramento. “The economic malaise we’re in is affecting everybody.”

Smith said that in his dozen years at the coroner’s office, he cannot remember seeing such a high number of families unable to afford the cost of claiming a body. If families ask, coroner’s staff will refer them to several funeral homes, including Allen English & Estrada Funeral Services in Bell Gardens, which offers cremations through its Cremation Society of Los Angeles.

The society’s director assistant, Joseph Harvey, said cremations have increased about 15 percent since the economic downturn last year. His office cremates about 400 bodies a year and charges about $700.

Harvey said the funeral industry is trying to do a better job of marketing itself. He said the casket manufacturers he deals with have stopped selling some expensive models as demand wanes.

“Families are making different choices based on the economy, choosing different caskets or urns or holding shorter services,” said Jessica Koth, a spokeswoman for the National Funeral Home Directors Association. “They’re cutting back on floral memorials. If they have a funeral procession, they’re not having the family limousine.”

Smith said he has seen many families go to great lengths to claim their loved ones’ remains, despite financial setbacks.

“We’ve had families try to have car washes and other little fundraising events. … They try to do right,” he said.

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For the dead left to the county, officials attempt to recover cremation costs from the estates. But the county does not require relatives to prove they are too poor to pay.

Smith said his office, with a strapped staff of four, cannot investigate. If records later show a family could have paid to claim a body, by law the county can recover the cost.

San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, first vice president of the California State Coroners’ Association, said his office recently began requiring applicants for county-funded cremations to submit a three-page application listing bank accounts, property or other assets.

“We figure that will be a deterrent,” Foucrault said. “We have found people that take advantage of the system. They do have the funds to pay but feel because they have been estranged from somebody, they shouldn’t have to be responsible for the burial.”

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In Massachusetts, Christopher Agosta’s sister said she is determined to do the right thing.

“He is my brother,” Tarnya Baker said. “He died alone. I’m bringing him home.”

She has two years to claim his remains. If she doesn’t, Agosta’s ashes will be buried with those of hundreds of others in a pauper’s grave.