Original subtitles

well he's very very dried out you could

see the insect activity taking place the

maggots have completely taken away his

face very much part of his head -

working on his feet as well if he's been

dead jeez he looks like you'd been dead

for about three weeks

I grew up around a mortuary I came into

the county as a much of an attendant

where I was just picking up and

delivering from there I started building

supervision from there came over to

London Crematory

and it been an enjoyable 30 30 plus

years this is our area where we the

cremation really happened we will load

the remains that will go over here the

temperature is set we will let the go

down

okay then once we do that we'll go back

out to to the hallway get out of second

remains come back

sign it a number which is number two let

the door down we'll go to the number

three we will load the remains with the

sign number again go back to the

mechanical part

he took his clothes that he had an app

I'll write and then he left and I sealed

the residence with a seal saying that no

one can enter the residence and then

lock the door and what would you like to

harvest and die today in Downey okay one

moment I have don't any I Bank on the

line and they'd like to ask you if they

can harvest from someone coroner's

investigations Mythili no okay is this a

juvenile okay how long is this person

been missing for okay the computer is a

little slow and their last name please

the investigator we would hope would

gather as much information as possible

from the scene that could lead to

information regarding this person's

family phone books wills insurance

policies check as much as they can

immediately our identification section

will handle in the vicinity of five

hundred unidentified cases every year I

would say the majority of the bodies

that we cannot find family on are here

up to three to four months before we get

to a point where we feel that we've

probably hit a wall and there's really

nothing more we can do on this person at

this time coroner's office Mel speaking

yes sir okay one long please let me give

a screen up here okay all right tell me

what you got so it's a decomp how about

next to Kim no next of kin

you checked in the apartment neighbors

don't know any okay foundering welfare

check what reason was the check oh I

notice an odor okay Mountain real decomp

okay I don't mean the lab just you don't

sound like you want to go back in there

very bad

he said if I last days almost

location 45 88 fountain Avenue apartment

number 24 in Los Angeles

apparently the neighbor Harris named

this funeral home has all the

instructions to determine the decedent

was observed lying unresponsive on the

bedroom floor of the premises on his

left side his face was resting on a

comfortably while his right side was

covered with a blue town several dark

stains appearing to be blood and/or

fecal matter were observed on the

carpeting below the decedent's buttock

area dark staining was also observed on

the floor leading into the bathroom as

well as on the boxspring mattress the

premises were unclean with no apparent

signs of foul play

present

tissue donation he is not a viable

candidate for tissue organ donation

because of apparent time constraints

next of kin notification no relatives

have been located at this time

ronald eugene tanner one thing that was

brought in lookers to be a only book

hopefully there'll be some family names

in that the decedent here 63 so the

parents may be deceased this guy's name

is Tanner so we'll go open to the tease

to see if there's anybody named Tanner

in there nope that's that's the obvious

thing let's look under M for Mom I don't

see mom there here they are in the back

his family listed back here okay there's

a grace tanner

that's the address and Gilroy there does

look to be some information here that we

may be able to build up on will

eventually start calling as many of

these numbers as we can to try to

determine who some of these people are

and why he has their phone numbers

listed in his phone

well what's exaggeration he bled to

death he bled to death examination yeah

that's what examination is bleeding the

depth

with their internal trauma he just

writes here too appears to have suffered

a rectal bleeding so as to why he had

all these documents on the table the man

knew he was dying there's a lot of lead

to four certificates marriage

certificates different names

there's his mother's death certificate

so we have a Renee V Tanner renee is the

stepmom so soon

Paul Oh Tanner is the father okay so

basically Renee she's left 20% of her

estate to the decedent and it says I

have intentionally omitted any and all

issues of my spouses deceased son Gail

or - Tanner so the decedent has a

deceased brother named Gaylord and

Shannon he died December 20th of 1963 he

was married and actually this was a

suicide self-inflicted bullet wound to

the left temple with a 22 caliber rifle

and I want to look through these

mortuary papers just to make sure that

the decedent doesn't have an actual

pre-need for himself so if he does what

she does he has here a card from Forest

Lawn Hollywood Hills

he has a looks like he has a plot hi

Miriam my name is investigator cata from

the coroner's office we have a deceased

gentleman and I like to check to see

whether or not you know we need with

with your mortuary

[Music]

thank you are you on hold choice

choice are you an home we're gonna order

lunch oh really

probably Janeway ofc wants something

different I actually brought a frozen

frozen meal thank you alright so it

looks like um

March 9th of 93 he went ahead and buried

a James fuller and his own fly and one

of these papers I think he just um

listed himself as James Fuller's friend

okay so it looked like he purchased it

and he's buried his friend there

these are cremains found in a closet at

a local mortuary we are responsible

Altamonte to try to find the next akin

and be it somebody who has already been

cremated and through the process

shouldn't even be a coroner's case to a

body that sounded you know out at a

residence still looks like I have a next

of kin maybe listed on here just like he

might even be an inmate that make it

easier to find Emily she can't get away

from me

we have mom here what do you want I mean

you want to claim her you want us to

make ranges you know for County

disposition just yeah put her away this

person here died knocked over of 97

somebody just placed his cremains on the

divider and left him there a city

employee I was out working on the

divider it's found them didn't know what

they were realized what they were and

then had it brought unto us the problem

with this one here is the permit which

is my lost was reattached was not so we

have no idea who these are who the next

of kin is and it becomes a matter of

trying to

get out Oh still a machine I'm not gonna

leave a message the last thing you wanna

have with your answer machine hi this is

lieutenant Smith from the coroner's

office can you please call me

I mean Estes I'd be scared they could

call it what's going on with you what's

happened here especially on a holiday

weekend or something like that you know

you're gonna the worst thing the last

that you go to think of it something

you've already forgotten to begin with

cases of people that die in the County

of Los Angeles report it to our office

it could be from the coroner's office LA

County morgue convalescent hospitals the

purpose of the public administrator's

office is to find out are there any next

of kin is there a will or trust are

their assets things of that kind when we

receive a case we're supposed to have a

10 day turnaround that includes whether

we need to go out in the field look for

next game whatever the case might be

we've got a 10 day turnaround to

determine whether we're gonna make it a

handling or we're not gonna handle this

case all we determined on this side is

how much money is going to be spent

whether there's enough assets for a

private funeral or whether it's gonna be

County disco or whether it's gonna be

imaging vet if the decedent doesn't have

enough assets to make private funeral

arrangements they would set up County

disco the coroner since their bodies to

LA County morgue

they in turn the bodies are transported

to LA County crematorium and they are

cremated there this is Ronald Eugene

Tanner came over from coroner case 4 3 8

7 and we've assigned it an estate number

two six four zero zero zero seven

his father passed away in 91 his mother

passed away when he was young so that's

why we have this stepmother Renee

leaving him items Renee passed away in

99 he had a brother who committed

suicide in 1963 so so far the only

potential contacts would be an executor

to a stepmothers estate we have foreign

letters that go to various things notice

of death is what I'm going to send to

see if these people know the decedent

know anything about them it's a form

letter we regret to inform you of the

death of Ronald Eugene Tanner you're

related to the decedent or have any

information regarding the decedent's

relatives please call myself the trust

officer assigned to this case and we

would appreciate receiving any

information that may have concerning the

decedent's will heirs or assets and this

will assist us in determining the

disposition of the estate he banked at

Bank of America which I will request a

letter for the bank to get balances to

see if there's a beneficiary or safe

deposit box so so far no family

contacted and the best bet is to go to

the residence and search therefore for

more information more assets

okay so I need you to read this over

this basically says that you're not to

assist in the search but only watch I

need your signature and address and I

will give you a copy I spoke with the

owner this morning and he said that

decedent owned all the furniture except

for the built-in appliances the others

phone go till ''tis checkbook so we got

a bank statement dated May shows the

balance is sixty one thousand march of

two thousand it was only thirteen

thousand May of 2001 it went up to 61

we had word he inherited from his

stepmother

it's got picture of his mother's grave

this might be help he's got pictures of

all the grave sites this is supposed to

be his Ronald Edith Paul these are all

things he's drawn they have to do with

the grave site this might be helpful at

least very mendocino catholic cemetery

even if he doesn't have a kree need we

can bury him next to his family

appointment information family photos

Hey

coffee table

and available

two end tables one lamp one two three

four five six seven eight nine pictures

eleven pictures clock

the party life

[Applause]

[Music]

James fuller Ronald our decedent and

James were roommates and James left him

as a beneficiary two insurance policies

at forty six thousand dollars and he

passed away in 1993 from AIDS others

copy that

our decedent taking care of his burial

paying for those expenses

okay done on the right and we know that

because search his pants for his ID

all right you paid cash just for one

night yeah okay witness statements Los

Angeles Fire Department rescue animals

unit 27 discovered the decedent and

pronounced death at 11:30 hours

according to the hotel manager the

decedent checked into the hotel on 713

at 11:30 hours and paid cash for one

night on 7:14 the manager checked on the

welfare of the decedent because he did

not vacate the room at checkout time he

knocked on the door at 1100 hours and

heard the shower water running he

checked again at 11:30 hours when he

heard the shower water still running he

opened the door with a master key and

discovered the decedent on the floor no

foul play is suspected a huge gash

you seen bridging like this before

Tunisia it's beautiful that's textbook

blunt-force trauma

he really whacked again I don't know on

what do we know for sure this isn't a

homicide we see anybody coming or going

and nose has heard physical altercations

anything like that you're not on all the

doors of all neighboring units England

father do you think I don't know what he

hands out I think you hit it maybe on

the end of that hole

I think it's an accident collapses it's

his head it's unconscious a little while

before he dies because he has time to

have tissue reaction they have time to

bleed I guess time to foam up the foam

could be indicative of a cardiac

condition which would be consistent with

the collapse these are obviously not

doing well it was a fatty liver like

that or something I'm you know I'm no

doctor but that's not normal

[Music]

hello how are you wrapping up a body

what are you doing what's that yeah you

have ups to have to work

No

oh I lost track of time I guess we're

all fall over okay all right well listen

let me um after this I'm on my way to

another call that's right here nearby so

let me call you back when I get in the

car I'm almost I'm almost done okay okay

that's how she rose to you by next of

kin notification none known

there's a magnet sandwiches in his mouth

nose and there's a TV antenna wire near

his neck and kind of along his hands I

didn't see any marks on his neck and

there doesn't seem to be indicating the

Cape that he hung himself and he's

pretty much naked oh yeah

you know whatever you know on that lion

kills the animal if he only needs

certain on me and then the burst a

certain amount of meat and there still

need stuff for the bones right so after

that then there's some of the bugs we

can sort them out of me and after that

there's these little bugs go clean the

bone it's completely to the point where

they're all white my side on side in

Discovery Channel

that wasn't that Otto come on the whole

thing no I robot I got there no I think

it was more like Otto antenna is just

trying to where does intend yeah

regarding mr. Albertson according to

investigator Dixon up the scene he had

no indications of next-of-kin

but there are some follow-up notes here

apparently he attempted to contact the

decedent's last known employer which was

west coast research in Santa Monica but

he received no answer this person also

has an arrest history including an FBI

number so we will go ahead and check his

arrest history and see if that gives us

any leads for family sometimes we'll get

a response within the hour and

unfortunately a lot of times we don't

get any responses at all and all I can

do is document that we did teletype the

various agencies and if we never

received a response you know we never

did so that's all we can do Donald right

this is a 61 year old transient type

person who just checked into a hotel for

one evening

and was found unresponsive the following

morning according to the report by

investigator Wilson she could find no

information that would lead us to any

next of kin at the time and he's

originally from Missouri so we'll

definitely want to check to see if any

has any arrests in that state that may

lead us to family but that will be where

we start off from because we have no

leads to follow up with right now I can

just imagine if we do find a relative

the response is going to be probably

non-emotional is it oh okay well we

always wondered what happened to them

along those lines I could probably put a

paycheck on it the they'll both be a

county just boarding to

removes

back to Tanner we spoke to the trustee

of his stepmothers trust mr. Reese and

he's known the family for years both of

the decedent's parents you as the

trustee to their estate and he does not

believe any living relatives so we're

gonna proceed and we'll continue to look

for relatives in case there was somebody

but we have to move along to get him

buried looking through mr. Tanner's

things he may have had a pre-need and

here's some actual pictures with his

name written on his plot which I've

never seen that type of an organized

situation so he had buried his partner

in a plot that he originally owned so

that plot is now gone but he went on

ahead and got a plot but I think this is

something extra for him and it's been

done through Callahan mortuary here in

Los Angeles and reading through the

notes it looks like he wants a burial

back in Fort Bragg California which is

near I think where his family home was

his stepmother had written him a note

she broke down all the prices for the

mortuary the plot all right just let you

know his remains are at the coroner's

office right and I'll let them know that

as long as everything works out with you

that that Callahan will be picking up

yet no no next of kin and the public

administrator will be handling so his

mother pushing him to be organized was

helpful now he'll have everything just

the way he planned it

the bank verification is back balance at

day to death and the current balance

sixty thousand four ninety five so these

accounts are collected

yes this case is finished gonna move it

along I completed my part which is the

initial investigation which determined

at the handling it will be removed off

my list so I can move on to the next one

and appear on somebody else's list how

dirty was it it's just that's it okay

like smoke okay bedrooms okay I'm

putting in a request for a Dre edge

which means they're gonna go with a

moving crew supervised by deputies to

remove the contents of the residents and

they put all the belongings and crates

so it's important when the deputy is out

there to kind of give us an accurate

picture of what's going on how dirty is

the place are there stairs is parking a

problem are the restrictions with

parking because the truck is quite huge

and they need to know if it can be

accommodated okay that's all and I just

package all this up with the keys we

this seems like it's gonna be quite easy

one day

mr. Tanner became my 541 miles from Los

Angeles in this form here mr. Tanner

put his own name up here and he dated it

9 3 93 so that's like eight years ago he

filled this piece of paper out for his

own and bombing then I found that real

real unique it's not that it's it's very

unusual a person usually doesn't do

their own embalming forms it's Giusti

the next of kin or the person it's a

power of attorney or somebody that has

the right disposition of the deceased

because it's an old cemetery the records

are sometimes not kept as well as they

could be and as that's really not a

fault of anybody's is just because of

the records being handed down over time

and some probably a family member of

some sort got buried in his plot so

because of that we're moving his grave

to another location and still abiding by

his wishes to be buried at the cemetery

but we can't place him where supposedly

his grave was at we're trying to meet

halfway and making sure that he gets

buried in the cemetery but it's just not

going to be where everybody thought he

was going to be all I know is that we

have to move on to another spot so that

we can accommodate the barrier you're

probably a family and the and it was the

one done when you know they were doing

it and didn't think about because it's

not marked either that was the other

problem it doesn't have a marker on it

so we don't know really who's in that

plot

okay ready one two three let's go

we've come here today to lay to rest the

body of Ronald Tanner he has lived

longer than his family members and so we

come to fulfill his wishes to be laid to

rest here in the cemetery in Mendocino

California he like many who have gone

before him now cross over into eternity

his body is laid here to rest but his

spirit is returned to God our Creator

someone ask what is dying I would like

to share these words as it describes

someone's thoughts I'm standing on the

seashore a ship spreads her cells to the

morning breeze and starts for the ocean

and someone at my side says she is gone

but gone where the loss of sight is only

in me not in her just at that moment

someone on another Shore begins to cry

here she comes here she comes where

others are watching and waiting for our

homecoming others pick up that glad cry

here she comes

and this is dying

this is Hrodna toner when he was in high

school senior spotlight he was gonna

play set altogether male show at the

park to hear listen to 50 world premiere

starts Wednesday November 19th no year

3rd biannual a mature male filmmakers

conference

our 1970 diligence slowly

[Music]

and so man is like the grass of the

field or a flower that flourish if the

wind blows about us and it seems we are

gone and the place thereof is remembered

no more but the mercy of our Lord is

from everlasting and to everlasting on

those who fear and reverence him and

upon his children who are righteous in

his sight so now father we pray that you

would remember this your servant where

we come in and His Spirit unto you and

into the hands of a just and loving God

he is now placed father we pray that his

memory would be blessed and that your

name would be glorified in the life that

was lived he asked us in the name of the

Father the Son and the Holy Spirit

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

this is a property of Donald Wright that

was frightened by the investigator on

July 14th mr. Wright had a black wallet

he had miscellaneous papers he had some

farmer markets nutritional program

coupons and he had an ID on mr. Tolliver

I did have $290 on him at the time of

his death we will hold the money here in

a County trust in case the neck sicán

should ever come forward we hold the

property generally for 90 days we send

out letters to the families if there is

a family in this case there was no

letter sent because there was no

relatives the public administrators

office had no interest in the case

because it was nothing of value just

miscellaneous items in a wallet they

turned over the property back to us so

I'm at the point now where I've given

this case Apple time for somebody to

claim the property and I will be

disposing of it

we shred and tear every document

possible we put it in a red hazardous

bag

we will then tie it up we'll keep it in

safekeeping till the janitors can then

come and dispose of it they have certain

areas width under lock and key and it's

not disposed out and just in the

dumpsters in the trash and then the

disposing company will come and pick up

the trash and take it with them

how is that there's mail and do that I

didn't go in

no it's a body over snow no it was just

nasty did he die yeah

Jameses you want me to go through the

papers you can put them out here after

you shake approaches top if we if we

clean out the window put this bed

straight up it's going to this sofa bed

we'll have all kinds of room we need to

get this thing out of the way right now

that's what's Blanca is this old trash

in the basket all right that's gonna got

here got somebody sleeping this from me

gosh they had to be walking all over him

like a rule she bag oatmeal uh-huh he

won $50 from the California Lottery we

gave him a hundred and thirty five

dollars a month the midnight mission

every month and they sent him notes of

gratitude he must have been homeless at

he has no personal papers in his bill

receipts from the mission statements

from bank account Wow

he might have been sitting $135 a week

cuz and May there was $135 on 539 a

thirty five dollars on five six when

it's weekly paychecks for only two

hundred and seventy one dollars what do

you need it then you didn't get this

tool and this laid out of here the lathe

is your best piece a little all right

these are all parts to it and that's

probably about seven eight hundred

dollars new and those children here some

nice precision tools

well I don't often good American tools

go for about sixty two hundred and ten

dollars a box

he left all

those look like drill bits maybe I'm not

sure

we verified about $3,700

and assets and that it's based on a bank

account checking account the minimum

fees for our office come out of that

which are seventy five seventy seven

hundred fifty dollars then to death

certificates

ten dollars each and then a whole day

eight hours times seventy two dollars an

hour for the drayage moving crew that

can come to about maybe six hundred

dollars

there's coroner feast of two hundred and

seven dollars and five hundred and

forty-one dollars for the LA County USC

mortuary to cremate that'll about take

up all the funds so however much money I

have left after the expenses are paid is

how much the rent will be in reimbursed

for

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

Tommy ray Albertson his case we've

exhausted all efforts and try to locate

any family we've run his history located

where he used to work there's no history

of family or emergency contact

everything we've come up with on him has

led to dead ends as far as locating

family a public administrator has also

conducted an investigation and they did

find enough funds to handle the

disposition of his remains but they're

gonna do it by county dispo Donald

Eugene right

we pretty much exhausted all efforts to

locate his family we were able to track

him back to Arizona however his trail

pretty well dried up there we've been

unable to locate any other information

relating to family since we've not been

able to locate anybody within the past

five months we've been working on him he

will now suspend the case and turn it

over to the county morgue for cremation

[Music]

weirdest wanting to pick up kind of

discos or today today we are man

deceased that will be cremated as you

notice that I was doing the paperwork

well I checked the paperwork outside to

make sure they have the right cases once

I get in the architect behind myself to

make sure to have the right case night

and I have heard they check behind me to

make sure that we do in the right cases

now we're a week to the printer

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

the monthly auction is held for a number

of estates not just one estate it's

advertised and people from all walks of

life go there and purchase property from

antique dealers to people who just hold

yard sales or whatever for whatever

reason

after the drapes is completed the

personal property is housed at our Pico

Rivera warehouse and it is held there

for approximately 90 days and we tried

to find next of kin and then we have to

dispose of it the money is posted and

credited back to the estate and it's

used to either pay creditors claims cost

and fees of the estate or for

distribution to next of kin everything

between David George or one money is a

lot price we're going to start with

number one we're going to stay a

numerical sequence I'm going to go all

the way through the back room okay

[Music]

[Music]

we're going to be up seven Democrat say

the protective anyway your finger at $30

pump it over 230 grams ten college ball

yeah fifteen fifteen to twenty fifty

about twenty point man for the fight for

5.30 but about 30 34 35 $3.00 per to

$30.00 Bertuzzi's about here okay here

to go up a woman anything over two

minutes we're not at all you know 100

over 70 60 50 you know make a $50 40 30

20 dollars for your 20 40 30 40 30 40 40

50 40 50 40 50 60 60 70 60 70 - 70 level

70 60 America 70 all through CC dollars

anybody with some people so 67 is the

buyer here Tommy ray Albertson all the

personal property items sold at auction

a net value of 734 39 cent was received

from the auction of those items number

14 on the 70s furniture - night

okay in terms of the Tanner estate from

the proceeds of the sale of the personal

property that netted only a hundred and

ninety eight dollars it was just a small

amount of personal merchandise and the

things didn't sell for very much because

they were of limited value

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

the property's been here since the turn

of the century it was given from the

city to the county in the 20s and has

been the site of the cremation and

interment of people with no next of kin

since the late 1800s after the cremation

we keep the ashes here for at least two

years and normally longer in December we

bury the unclaimed dead and indigence

who died in a previous year the number

that we insure ranges from fifteen or

sixteen hundred to two thousand or more

this year we're ensuring those who died

in 1997 and there are about 1600 of them

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

you