Investigators find decomposing remains at funeral home in Ohio

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Denise Jones took home a porcelain urn with what she thought were her husband's ashes and put it on a dining room table so she could talk to him.

"That's what I thought, anyway," she said. "We'd say things like 'Hi Vern, bye Vernon. I'm going to work, Vernon."

However, the contents of the urn are unknown. It turns out her husband's body was one of eight left decomposing at the Sherrill-Harden Funeral Home, an old house next to a vacant lot in this Lake Erie city.

Some bodies had been partly eaten by rodents. Two left in a garage likely were there for years. They haven't been identified and it may take months to do so.

Investigators told Jones that the body of her husband, who died in January, was in bad shape and they didn't let her see it.

State regulators on Thursday suspended the funeral home's license. Owner Henry Harden had been warned in the past about sloppy record keeping and in September he came close to losing his business after falling behind on paying property taxes. He also was $12,750 in debt to two casket makers, court records show.

Harden, 62, has not been charged and repeatedly has declined to comment.

His attorney, John Potts, said Harden let his heart govern his business, reducing rates or providing free services until he no longer could cover bills.

"This was not an evil man," he said. "This was a man who couldn't say no to a family in need and things got out of control."

Renzie Williams, who delivered and picked up bodies at Sherrill-Harden, said Harden often charged little for services provided to families with financial problems.

"He didn't charge a lot of people anything," Williams said. "I don't know why."

Cleveland Richardson, 89, said Harden agreed to cremate his son's remains for less than $1,000 after his son died Oct. 19. He said he paid Harden $300 and an aunt chipped in $500.

Richardson learned on June 22 that his son's uncremated remains were among those found.

"I've never been hurt so bad in my life," he said. "I've lost my wife, my mother, aunts and best friends, but I've never been hurt like this."

Investigators acting on anonymous tips found six bodies in a back room about a week ago and two more in the garage. Most of the bodies were in cardboard boxes used for cremations. One was in a casket. Some were not embalmed; Harden didn't have an embalmer's license and had to hire others to do that work, state records show.

The case pales in comparison with the 334 bodies found last year in Georgia at Tri-State Crematory. Operator Brent Marsh, 29, faces 334 felony criminal charges.

But that comparison makes no difference to Harden's clients.

"I'm angry because I trusted this man to do the right thing. I paid him $1,000 out of my pocket," Jones said. "When I gave him that $1,000, he was so happy. He said, 'You're a blessing in the sky."'