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LITTLETON, Colo. -- You can tell Donna Lucero loves her family as pictures of them are displayed around her apartment, which she calls it her wall of fame. Lucero, now nearing 80 years old, didn't want her family to worry in case she suddenly could no longer be with them, so she prepaid for her own cremation back in 2014.
Lucero reached out to Contact7 when she realized the funeral provider she paid is now out of business. She still has the paperwork showing that she paid $937 to Gordon Funeral & Cremation Services.
"A man came over, got me signed up, took my check and that was it. I didn’t go to their place, he came here," said Lucero.
She said she trusted the business because her nephew had used them for her sister's cremation several years ago.
Lucero decided to call Gordon Funeral & Cremation Services recently to see if she might be able to buy and urn and talk about her wishes. She said the number was disconnected and that's when she started to worry her money was gone.
"I live from more or less paycheck-to-paycheck so yeah, that hurts, but I didn’t think there was much I could do about it. A lot of people have been taken for a lot more than that; I see it on your channel, it’s sad," said Lucero.
According to the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs, Gordon Funeral & Cremation Services' license expired in November 2019. Contact7 went to the address on Lucero's paperwork to see if our crew could find out anything else about the business. The Littleton address on her receipt took them to the middle of a neighborhood and there was no sign of any funeral home or business.
Lucero thought she was planning ahead but now she wonders if she'll have the money to pay for funeral services again.
"I thought about it, but I think I have to save up the money first because it’s going to be more than that," said Lucero.
