More than 300 piles of human remains have been discovered in a desert outside Las Vegas.
The ashes were uncovered near the rural town of Searchlight, around an hour from Sin City, on 28 July.
Investigators are still working to solve the mystery, a particularly challenging task given the severe lack of identifiable information.
Some of the piles contained pieces of cable ties, which funeral homes typically use to seal bags of ashes, along with fragments of urns, according to 8 News Now.
The deceased are believed to have been residents of southern Nevada.
Earlier this week, a funeral home took on the task of recovering the remains from the desert.
Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries arrived at the site and recovered around 315 sets of ashes, which have now been placed in individual urns.
The Bureau of Land Management confirmed the piles were human “cremains” and launched an investigation in August.
The remains were found in a Nevada desert
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It is believed a funeral home was responsible for the mass dumping of the ashes.
While Nevada state law prohibits the commercial disposal of ashes, there are no laws preventing individuals from scattering remains on private land.
Funeral homes, however, are required to preserve the “dignity” of remains in their care, and an act such as this could constitute a violation of federal law.
Palm Mortuaries plans to inter the recovered remains in a crypt at its southern Nevada cemetery.
Celena DiLullo vowed not to let the deceased be forgotten
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PALM EASTERN MORTUARY AND CEMETERY
Celena DiLullo, president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries, said: “I think it’s important to us to make sure these people are not forgotten or left behind. It’s important to our community and our profession that we show how much we care about these individuals.
“I don’t know if it was their wish to be left out there – that’s what goes through my mind. If this is not how they would want to be remembered, we just want to provide a place for them to rest.”
According to several sources, a recently closed funeral home was responsible for the mass dumping, although a representative from the unnamed business has denied the claims.
Authorities have yet to release details about the suspected funeral home.
The discovery follows another grim find earlier this month, when excavators unearthed five sets of skeletal human remains at a former mother-and-baby institution at Tuam in County Galway.
They also found shoes, spectacles and baby glass bottles dating back to the period the site was active, between 1841 and 1918.
