Elk Funeral & Cremation Service owner Dale Burger holds a box of unclaimed ashes while standing next to a table of other unclaimed remains inside the funeral home in Charleston on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Elk Funeral & Cremation Service owner Dale Burger holds a box of unclaimed ashes while standing next to a table of other unclaimed remains inside the funeral home in Charleston on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail
Often, it’s miscommunication.
That’s the reason Dale Burger, owner of , at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. in Charleston, gave for why there are so many unclaimed cremated remains at funeral homes.
His own funeral home has been trying to find the families of 27 unclaimed remains. So far, nine have been claimed.
A May 2 Facebook post from the business has been shared 2,100 times as people from private investigators to community groups seek to help connect people with their loved ones.
Burger bought the business in late 2023 and found the remains. Additionally, there are two containers of human remains that are unidentified. Burger said he plans to call the facility where they were cremated to find their names.
Cadance Burger-O’Dell stands at her desk in the office at the Elk Funeral & Cremation Service, in Charleston, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail
Cadance Burger-O’Dell, Burger’s granddaughter and a funeral service apprentice, made the Facebook post, expecting only a few hundred shares from people in the area as the funeral home has historically provided affordable services to local families, she said.
“Hopefully, we can get [a lot] picked up, but I was like, ‘We’ll probably only get a couple because I’d say a lot of these people just didn’t have family,’†she said. “But we’ve had a lot more than I expected.â€
Burger said every funeral home in the area has unclaimed remains. It is illegal for funeral homes to keep remains “hostage†if families haven’t paid. However, Burger said, people picking up the ashes of their loved ones have said they thought another family member had already taken them.
“When you take someone to the cemetery and you do a burial, you don’t have to go back,†he said. “And I really do believe that maybe people think the same thing that you come sign all the paperwork and pay and you have a cremation, that’s it.
“This is from a previous funeral home,†Burger added. “These aren’t our contracts.â€
While Burger said funeral homes can bury the unclaimed remains, there is often a cost for a family to get their loved one from a grave. He plans to hold onto these remains so that people don’t have to pay.
“As long as we’re here,†he said, “they’ll be here.â€
