ALLENTOWN, Pa. — It’s time to return the cremated remains of 14 people who have been in the care of the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office — some for as long as 37 years — to their families, Coroner Dan Buglio said.
Buglio said in a release Monday that he is changing the office’s policy in dealing with a death in which a person is "unclaimed, disclaimed or estranged from their family."
"My goal has always been to collaborate with families to the best of my ability, facilitating a reasonable final disposition that serves both the county and, most importantly, the families of their loved ones."Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio
The office's current policy is to cremate the remains and retain them, Buglio said. Now, he said, "I am overhauling this policy to create a more active approach."
"I believe there is no valid reason why these remains cannot be returned to families who wish to receive them," Buglio said in the release.
"My goal has always been to collaborate with families to the best of my ability, facilitating a reasonable final disposition that serves both the county and, most importantly, the families of their loved ones."
Returned at no cost or buried
So the office is looking to contact the families or next of kin of the deceased.
The coroner's office released a list of the 14 decedents and their dates of death, and is asking the public for help in finding their families.
Anyone with information regarding the next of kin or families is asked to call the office at 610-782-3426 or email Buglio at danielbuglio@lehighcounty.org.Lehigh County Coroner's office release
Anyone with information regarding the next of kin or families is asked to call the office at 610-782-3426 or email Buglio at danielbuglio@lehighcounty.org.
The return of the remains will be at no cost to the family that wished to have them, the release said.
Any cremated remains that remain unclaimed and in the care of the coroner's office will be buried in a group at the county cemetery, Buglio said.
Each decedent also will be vetted for possible veterans burial at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery in Lebanon and Dauphin counties, he said.
List of decedents
The decedents and their dates of death are:
- Herbert Jackson, 5/14/1988
- Alfredo Rojas, 7/4/1992
- John Breidinger 2/14/2004
- Jerome Lobach, 1/28/2009
- Roland Young, 7/10/2012
- Wayne Persing, 11/23/2012
- Vivian Strickland, 8/31/2014
- James Skies, 10/19/2016
- Elaine Dries, 11/05/2017
- Albert Cuomo, 6/1/2018
- Wojciech Wiatrowski, 8/31/2018
- Joseph Grohman, 11/08/2018
- Dick Cooper, 10/20/2022
- Anne Nemchik, 12/26/2022
