Unclaimed Cremains Laid to Rest in Mass Entombment in Kane County

The unclaimed cremains of 10 people will be laid to rest this week at the St. Charles Township Cemetery Crypt.

The non-denominational service and entombment is the second held by the Kane County Coroner’s Office and is part of a greater effort to reunite families with the unclaimed remains of their loved ones, according to a coroner’s office press release. The service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday at the cemetery, 1200 N. 5th Ave. in St. Charles.

Two years ago, the coroner’s office received international media attention after it announced it was looking to find the family members of 47 people whose cremains were discovered at the coroner’s office, according to the news release.

The media attention lead to six of the cremains being reunited with family members, including a father who claimed the cremains of his 2-month-old child who died suddenly 26 years ago and another family who had the cremains of their loved one shipped halfway around the world.

“People from near and far, came forward, inquiring about the cremains,” according to the news release.

The rest of the remains were laid to rest in an empty, unused tomb, which was made available through a partnership with St. Charles Township. Since the original entombment, one more family came forward to claim a cremain.

“My hope was that over time, additional families would come forth and claim their loved ones from the crypt. If we had buried in a mass grave or spread the ashes, this would not have been a possibility. Now this possibility has become reality due to this program,” Kane County Coroner Robert Russell said.

Since the state is discussing terminating funds for indigent burial, Russell also sees the partnership with the township as necessary.

“With the state being in the condition it is in, we have to find alternatives to take care of those who are indigent,” Russell said. “Too many times, family members wind up walking away from the responsibility for burial. In those cases, Illinois law places the county as that funding source. With this township partnership, some of that cost has been mitigated.”

Russell said he is grateful to St. Charles Township Supervisor John Arthur Anderson and the St.

Charles Township Cemetery Board for becoming the first to partner with the coroner’s office on this program.

“I would like to see all the townships that have cemeteries partner with me in the future,” Russell said.