Crawford Lorenzen Mortuary picked up my father's body from a healthcare facility on the same day he died. The mortuary was given my name by the healthcare facility. Next of kin notification was never made by this mortuary. In fact, this mortuary informed the Los Angeles County Public Administrators office that my father had no known next of kin, even though this mortuary had been given my name by the healthcare facility when they picked up my father's body. This mortuary kept my father's body refrigerated at their mortuary for 7 1/2 months, without explanation. This practice does not meet regulatory requirements for funeral establishments. After 7 1/2 months they finally contact the County of Los Angeles Public Administrator's office and the Office of Decedent Affairs asking for authorization to transfer my father to be cremated as "Unclaimed Dead"
My father was a military veteran and was entitled to federally protected military burial rights. No one or county office that handled my father's remains ever contacted the Veterans Affairs to perform a veteran status check. Had they, they would have been informed my father served in the military which would have required all involved to contact veteran affairs to arrange a military burial with full honors.
Instead, my father was cremated by the County of Los Angeles in June of 2022, 8 months after he had died with no next of kin notification, no next of kin authorization to cremate and violated my father's federally protected rights to a military burial. Then my father sat on a shelf somewhere in Los Angeles County for 2 1/2 years, before he was buried in a mass grave, with 1,896 other human cremains.
I did not find out my father had died until 4 1/2 years after his death.
Recently I contacted Gloria, the facility manager at Crawford Mortuary. When I initially spoke with her, she withheld from me that her mortuary had keep my father's body in their refrigerator for 7 1/2 months. I learned of this from the Public Administrators office. I formally requested all mortuary records that this funeral home is required to maintain on decedents. Gloria has still not responded to my full requests for this mortuary's records for my deceased father after having received two formal written requests.
I was contacted by phone by Jessica Rodriguez, an alleged operational support person, who informed me that their lawyers had told them to release only 3 documents to me. These three documents were not Crawford Lorenzen Mortuary required records. It is very concerning when a mortuary has their representative tell next of kin of a decedent that their lawyers are advising them what documentation will be allowed to be given to a decedent's next of kin.
From what I have been told is if a mortuary claims, "Our lawyers won't let us release anything" This is typically a stall tactic or an attempt to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
California funeral establishments are regulated by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau (CFB). They are legally required to maintain and produce specific records related to the handling, storage, identifications, and the disposition of human remains. I'm telling you this, because this mortuary is not going to tell you.
There is no provision in California law allowing a mortuary to withhold decedent mortuary records from the decedents next of kin, because allegedly their attorney told them not to release the records. This mortuary's alleged Attorney preference is not a legal exemption and does not override California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau regulatory requirements.
What California Law Actually Requires
Funeral establishments must maintain and produce records including (but not limited to):
* Authorization for disposition
* Chain-of- custody logs
* Identification records
* Refrigeration and storage records
* Cremation records
* Contracts, price lists and itemized statements
* Transportation records
* Next-of-kin notification records
* All communications between the mortuary in hospitals and county agencies, such as Medical Examiner, Coroner, Office of Decedent Affairs or the Public Administrators Office.
When a mortuary is telling me they are not going to provide me with the records of my deceased father after keeping him refrigerated for 7 1/2 months and then requested county disposition for cremation and informed County offices my father had no next of kin even though this mortuary had been given my name and I was the daughter, raises a huge red flag.
My experience with this mortuary is that they are not transparent. Finding out that they had my father in their refrigerator 7 1/2 months before the mortuary sought county cremation claiming my father had no next of kin, and what happened after the fact, is horrifying. read more