DENVER — After more than a year, a veteran has finally been laid to rest after dying in Colorado near the end of 2023 — but only after Denver7 got involved.
It was Jan. 3 when Leigh Poortenga felt like she was at her wit's end. She didn't know where else to turn and decided to call Denver7.
That phone call sparked an investigation into where her family member's remains were, and the background of the funeral home and crematory that was used.
Who was Doug?
Leigh and her parents, Leonard and Kaye Rumsey, said all they wanted was for their loved one to be interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery. The family lives out of state and said they were having a difficult time connecting with the funeral home where their family member was cremated.
His name was Norman Douglas "Doug" Rumsey. He was born in Indiana. A death certificate provided by the family confirms Doug died at the age of 81 on Dec. 6, 2023, in Gilpin County.
"He was never married. He liked to go place to place to place. He finally settled down in Colorado after, well, how many years? Thirty," Doug's brother, Leonard, said over a Zoom call with Denver7. "He was basically a loner. But then he moved there to Colorado, and he's got a lot of friends out there."
Paperwork provided by the family from the National Personnel Records Center states Doug served in the U.S. Navy from 1961 to 1963.
"He was the cool uncle," Leigh said with a laugh.
The family provided a receipt dated Feb. 8, 2023, from Colorado Funeral Homes, the Idaho Springs location, showing Doug prepaid $1,050 for his cremation services. He received a "professional discount" of $1,100.
The funeral home representative listed on the receipt is Anthony "T.J." Garcia.
Doug passed away at the end of 2023, and since then, his family claims they have had a hard time communicating with Colorado Funeral Homes. Initially, Leonard said the funeral home was giving him "the runaround," and he was told they could not accommodate the original request to spread Doug's ashes.
Leonard and Kaye allege that in the spring of 2024, they arranged for Doug's interment at Fort Logan National Cemetery. The family sent Denver7 a copy of a check from March 2024 that shows Kaye paid $134 to the funeral home, which the Rumseys said was meant for the transportation of Doug's remains to Fort Logan.
However, the Rumseys said they never received confirmation that Doug's remains arrived at the cemetery.
"It's been a battle ever since," Leonard said. "I've not been able to get a hold of anybody for anything. That's been over a year now, and I'm the last one in the family, so I'd like to try and get this taken care of, but it's like pulling teeth from an alligator. They're not cooperating whatsoever."
The family explained that their difficulty contacting the funeral home stretched on for months. Leigh said it was hard to see the toll it was taking on her father.
"He is the last one in the family, and my father wants this all taken care of before something happens to him. He wants Uncle Doug taken care of," she said. "This has been over a year. We don't have my uncle. He's not laid to rest. How can this happen? How can this happen?"
Where is Doug?
Denver7 looked up Colorado Funeral Homes in the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) and found the business had one crematory license in Idaho Springs and six funeral home licenses in Idaho Springs, Denver, Leadville, Silverthorne, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs. All of the licenses were listed as being voluntarily surrendered.
When Denver7 opened the document connected to the license surrender, a Stipulation and Final Agency Order for Colorado Funeral Homes was also addressed to Grand Valley Funeral Homes and Grand Valley Crematory. The three were collectively considered the respondents in the order, which was signed in July 2023 by Anthony Garcia — months after Doug prepaid for his cremation services, and months before he passed away.
Searching Grand Valley Funeral Homes in DORA reflected the same voluntary license surrender for a crematory in Montrose and a funeral home in Grand Junction.
The Stipulation and Final Agency Order states that Anthony Garcia was the owner of the businesses.
A number of complaints are detailed in the order, including:
- April 2021 — Respondents packed a decedent in ice, including in one of their eye sockets, and allowed the ice to remain in place for the family's viewing of the decedent; failed to arrange for the lowering of the casket into the grave; overcharged the decedent's family; etc.
- May 2021 — Respondents sent cremains to a decedent's family in Pennsylvania, which "exceeded a normal volume and would not fit into a standard size urn" and were mixed with "other cremains or other material."
- November 2022 — Respondents failed to return purses and other items to families of decedents; failed to maintain a complete crematory log book and transport logs; left unidentified cremains in a crematory chamber; failed to have a refrigerator in the crematory; etc.
An investigation into Grand Valley Crematory was conducted in December 2022 and was reviewed in February 2023. The inspection found that there was no refrigeration on site; there was no functional processor to "pulverize cremains" which were pulverized instead at Grand Valley Funeral Homes; the crematory would "regularly leave cremains of one decedent in the cleanout chamber while the remains of another decedent are cremated above;" and an audit of three decedent files "contained no chain of custody records or receipts for remains delivered."
Signing the order required that the funeral home and crematory licenses be relinquished.
Denver7 began calling the numbers listed online for both Grand Valley Funeral Home and Colorado Funeral Homes. We connected with someone named Don Maestes, who claimed to be one of the funeral home directors. Maestes also said the business reopened under a different name after the license surrender — Colorado Memorial Group.
According to a spokesperson with DORA, Grand Valley Funeral Homes sold to Colorado Memorial Group following the voluntary license surrender. The spokesperson said that is not "uncommon business practice in the funeral home industry for one company to sell to another with a new appointed designee."
DORA defined the designee as the responsible party for a funeral home with the Office of Funeral and Mortuary Science Services.
"Why would they close their business down and then change their name?" Leigh asked. "Because when we've been dealing with them, we have never been told this new name."
Maestes said the reason for the delay in delivering Doug's ashes boiled down to not receiving a copy of the will. Maestes said the funeral home needed proof that Leonard could make the decision for Doug's remains in "black and white."
"Because the big issue that we've had, especially with everything that's going on in Colorado with the other funeral homes, we're having to cover our ass, to be honest," Maestes said over the phone.
On that same phone call, Maestes said Anthony Garcia was no longer with the company. He said a new family was running the business and that he was "one of the family members." Maestes said Garcia will "still help out every now and then."
When asked about the licenses being surrendered, Maestes said there were some previous employees who "weren't doing stuff the best."
Maestes said the issue could be resolved by emailing Leonard for his authorization. An email sent on Feb. 5 did the trick, and Maestes told Denver7 they would be delivering Doug's ashes to Fort Logan.
On Feb. 11, Denver7 was waiting at the cemetery for the delivery. Instead of running into Maestes dropping off the remains, our crew was surprised to see Garcia with the cremains at Fort Logan.
At the cemetery, Garcia told us he drove the ashes to the cemetery from Idaho Springs. He said he is no longer in a management position and had to step back from the business because he was doing "other stuff." Ultimately, Garcia told Denver7 he could not comment on what happened with the delay in delivering Doug's ashes. He said Maestes would be better for an official response.
When searched in DORA, Colorado Memorial Group had two crematory licenses in Montrose and Idaho Springs and eight funeral home licenses in Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Denver, Silverthorne, Fort Collins, Montrose, Leadville, and Colorado Springs. All of the licenses were listed as expired, which happened exactly a week after Doug's remains were delivered to Fort Logan.
A spokesperson with DORA said the funeral home and crematory locations for Colorado Memorial Group had renewed their 2024 registration for 2025, but there "was an issue with payment." That payment issue was not resolved and the licenses expired, according to DORA.
Colorado Memorial Group provided a statement, which said the family was working with a funeral director who left the company in May or June 2024. The statement continues to say Doug was "estranged from the family for some time."
The Rumseys said that was not true and they were not estranged from Doug.
"That makes me upset. Uncle Doug, I mean, my mom, my dad, me, my brothers — we are his family," Leigh said. "He came out in July of 2023 — him and his roommate John, they came and visited us, and all the things, the papers, everything was given to my mom and dad. Things were in order."
Still, the Rumseys said they were not aware of a will that Doug had prepared.
Ultimately, Doug was interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
"Uncle Doug has been found. Uncle Doug is laid to rest. We know where he is, and that is a big burden off all of our chests, knowing that we know where he is. He's not lost anymore. So, thank you," Leigh said.
Leonard cannot help but wonder if this is a result of the way funeral homes are regulated in Colorado. Denver7 has spoken with funeral directors from other states who have called Colorado "a joke" to other states and mortuary professionals, adding that it is "the Wild West" for funeral service.
"Somebody within the State of Colorado should look this situation over because this is very disturbing, very disturbing to get away with," Leonard said. "If it's not just us, how many other ones have they done this to?"
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What does the law say?
Colorado law lays out an order of operations when it comes to the right to control the disposition of the last remains or the ceremonial arrangements of a decedent. First is the decedent, either through an appointed personal representative or special administrator of their estate, or the personal representative identified within a decedent's will.
In the absence of a will, the law continues to list the surviving spouse of the decedent. The Rumseys said Doug was never married.
Then, the law stipulates an order for who would come next in making such decisions surrounding a decedent. Adult children are listed, followed by parents, and then adult siblings of the decedent.
The statement from Colorado Memorial Group states they received authorization through the phone call and email with Leonard after they confirmed there were no other next of kin or family members. However, looking at the death certificate, a child is listed — Joseph Mueller.
Denver7 spoke with Mueller, who confirmed he also wanted Doug to be interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery. Leigh said her uncle found out about his son in Nov. 2022, and they met for the first time in person in July of 2023. Doug passed away a few months later.
"He was put up for adoption, and he made contact [with] his birth mother, and his birth mother gave information to him about his birth father," Leigh explained. "They told Uncle Doug, and they met in July. Prior to his death, Uncle Doug came out to our house, and [Mueller] came down from Wisconsin, and they met."
Heidi Gassman is an attorney who has specialized in trusts and estates for roughly 30 years.
"I actually will tell people that I do death and dirt because I do a lot of that, but I also do a lot of real estate and title work," Gassman said with a smile.
Gassman would not expect to see more than a week or two between cremation and the delivery of remains to either the family or the final resting place.
"Funeral homes are not set up to store remains unless they're asked to, but they generally don't like to," Gassman said. "I had a case where it was hard to repatriate remains from another country, but not here. I have had a few cases where a body was mistakenly taken by the wrong funeral home or delivered to the wrong one, and it was immediate 24 hours, got it to the right place once I made a call."
- The full statement provided to Denver7 from Colorado Memorial Group is as follows:
Thanks for your assistance in this matter. It's been expressed you wanted to visit with funeral home personnel regarding the details and events for Mr. Rumsey. Also, that you were at the Fort Logan Cemetery when Mr. Garcia assisted in taking cremains. He was unsure of the full details with all the concerns funeral directors had. He was unable speak on details or on our behalf. We had to review our information regarding Mr. Rumsey. From our notes the family was working with a funeral director who is no longer working with the company. The prior funeral director left in May, June of 2024.
Notes state Mr. Rumsey was estranged from the family for sometime. Mr. Rumsey's wishes were for us to give the cremains to a friend of the deceased, but the family wanted placement of cremains at Fort Logan. With all the dynamics and confusion with family, friends, next of kin had prior funeral directors confused and concerned. No local family to meet with, and the documents we received from the family was a POA (Power of Attorney) which is involved at time of death. Our goal is to follow the family's wishes and also follow laws to ensure all details are correct. We were able to visit with the brother Leonard and really explain how the POA was a document that had numerous names and whom to release items at time of death. Power of Attorney vs Wills, Durable Medical Power of Attorney, Executor all are different and apply to certain areas and ways. POAs are not valid once someone passes away. That really confuses families a lot. Confirming no other children, parents or siblings that Mr. Rumsey may have. When there is a family out of state or at times estranged families that make steps very touchy. We need to really insure we release cremains to the correct folks or place in the correct final resting place. Our staff was able to get authorization by phone call and email from the brother Leonard that no other next of kin or family members. After explaining our concern and confusion of POA vs Will. We were authorized to take cremains to his final resting place. Main goal is always honor and want to ensure families are taken to their final resting place.
A huge help would be. Helping educate families on Legal Next of Kin, POA vs Wills, Durable Medical Power of Attorney, Executor and how they differ and who is responsible ie children, grandchildren, parents and the order they may fall into. Also, how much preplanning and sharing wishes in writing and knowing your loved ones wishes really helps. You even mentioned you were unaware of the differences or how they apply.
With all dynamics and issues funeral homes are having anymore. We have to ensure all families, and the funeral home are protected and follow bylaws set forth. We never want to give cremains to the incorrect person and or take to the wrong place of final placement. Without communication and proper authorization for proper next of kin.
According to DORA, the Office of Funeral and Mortuary Science Services has jurisdiction over licensees and enforcing the Mortuary Science Code, "which includes the requirement to possess a valid registration to conduce mortuary and funeral science services."
DORA created a Death Care Booklet designed to discuss the history of the death care industry in Colorado and summarize recent changes the state has made to the industry.
