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Work continues on finding relatives for unclaimed cremains

Posted at 9:06 AM, Nov 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-13 09:06:42-05

Officials are still trying to find relatives to claim more than two dozen cremated remains discovered in southern Michigan after the death of a funeral director.

The work by the Calhoun County's medical examiner began when the family of Joy Spencer Spoor found the cremains in storage after her Oct. 14 death. Spoor was a former owner of Spencer Family Funeral Home in the village of Athens, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Detroit.

Chief investigator Joanne Catania tells the Battle Creek Enquirer she's resolved at least seven cases by finding relatives or determining there are no family members.

She says at least one of the cremated remains dates to the 1980s and so far two are from Texas.

The funeral home was sold in a 2015 bankruptcy auction.