2,000 Boxes of Cremated Human Remains Found in Warehouse

DISCOVERY BAY, Calif. —  Additional search warrants were being sought Friday as authorities continued investigating the discovery of about 2,000 boxes of cremated human remains in a storage facility. The ashes, in cracked and leaking cardboard boxes, apparently date back years, authorities said.

“Our primary goal is to identify the [remains] and return them to the funeral homes,” Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Deputy Ric Conger said Friday.

The boxes were being stored at the Discovery Bay warehouse by a flying service hired to spread cremated remains over regional mountains and rivers, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Byroads.

Deputies went to the warehouse Thursday after the adjoining tenant complained that the wall was caving in. They found boxes of remains from across Northern California, Byroads said.

Joe Riggio, who rents the adjacent space, said he noticed something strange about a year ago, when the sides of his shed started bulging inward.

Authorities said that if the ashes have been kept more than a year, the pilot could face misdemeanor counts of failing to dispose of them in a timely manner. Fraud charges are also possible if money was taken to scatter the remains.

Sheriff’s investigators identified the renter of the storage unit as pilot Al Vieira, owner of Vieira’s Flying Service, who contracts with funeral homes to scatter ashes from his airplane. Vieira did not come to the door of his home Thursday, the Contra Costa Times said.