Man Finds Possible Human Ashes in Flower Bed in Grosse Pointe Woods

A Grosse Pointe Woods man found ashes believed to be cremated human remains in a flower bed at his home, said.

The 41-year-old resident of the 2100 block of Lancaster Street reported his discovery of the ashes earlier this week, several days after he noticed they were in a flower bed, according to a police report.

He originally spotted the ashes last week, but thought his wife had put rose fertilizer in the flower bed. His second thought was that a neighbor had dumped fireplace ashes into the flower bed as a fertilizer. 

Then earlier this week, the man began spreading them in the flower bed and found an official cremation tag, according to a police report. The man then called police.

The tag provided identification number 230 from Metro Embalming and Crematory out of Conyers, GA. According to information the company provided to Grosse Pointe Woods police, the next of kin for that identification tag is a woman in Georgia. When she was contacted, she said her husband had been cremated in January 2010 and she has the urn and remains with an identification tag with the number 320 in her home, according to a police report.

The Georgia woman told police her only connection to Michigan was that her husband occasionally fished near Cadillac and that she has not been to Michigan recently.

The Woods resident who discovered the ashes told a responding officer that he has no connection to Georgia and neither do his neighbors, according to the police report. 

Detective Kevin Bonk said they are awaiting information from the widow in Georgia as well as from the crematory to find out whose remains ended up in the flower bed.

The Woods resident cleaned up the ashes, Bonk said. The identification tag was taken into evidence but the ashes were not, he said. 

Patch has called Metro Embalming and Crematory, but no one has returned the message. More attempts will be made by Patch.

Spreading ashes after an individual has been cremated is allowed in Michigan as long as it does not create a disturbance to the public, said  Manager David Kesner. In Michigan, the laws concentrate more on the outcome of the body, he said, explaining there are four options: burial, entombment, cremation and donation.

Once the ashes are turned over to the family, it is their decision about what to do with them, Kesner said. The resident who found the ashes contacted Kesner to find out what he should do with them, Kesner said, as the man was planning to gather them and send them to the widow in Georgia, Kesner said.