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Urgent Investigation Launched After Hundreds Of Piles Of Human Remains Discovered In Las Vegas Desert
A disturbing discovery led to piles of human remains being found in a quiet stretch of desert outside Las Vegas.
Authorities launched an investigation to find out who dumped the human remains in the area.
“There’s a whole lot of things buried out there, they may find more than what they’re looking for,” one commented online.
Highlights
- A quiet stretch of desert near Las Vegas unexpectedly turned into a makeshift gravesite.
- Officials confirmed that around 315 sets of cremated human remains were found in the plot outside the town of Searchlight.
- “It’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” said Celena DiLullo, the president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.
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A quiet stretch of desert near Las Vegas unexpectedly turned into a makeshift gravesite
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
Around 315 sets of ashes were discovered in the desert area outside the town of Searchlight, a rural community about an hour south of Las Vegas.
Officials confirmed that the discovered ashes were human remains or “cremains,” which is the word used to refer to the cremated remains of a human being.
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
This week, representatives from Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries removed approximately 315 piles of cremains from the desert.
“I think most of us just felt like, ‘What a shame,’” said Celena DiLullo, the president of Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.
Approximately 315 sets of cremated human remains were found in the plot outside the town of Searchlight
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
It is believed each pile represented a person who lived in the Southern Nevada community.
The ashes most likely no longer contained any traceable information.
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
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As part of the recovery efforts, each pile was moved into a bag and then an individual urn.
“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” Celena told 8 News Now.
Each pile of remains was transferred into an individual urn
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
The discovery was made after a local man stumbled upon the remains on July 28.
In August, authorities confirmed that the remains were human.
It was initially believed there were about 70 piles, but further inspection led to another plot of mounds being found.
Moreover, the land in question was reportedly federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Image credits: www.youtube.com
Officials suspected that the ashes may have been dumped by a commercial funeral home business.
The state of Nevada allows people to scatter ashes or cremated remains on public land but forbids the “commercial distribution of cremated remains” on federal land, according to BLM.
“It’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” said Celena DiLullo
Image credits: Linkedin
Therefore, a massive dumping site of remains like this is likely a violation of federal law.
So far, no suspect or specific mortuary business has been named.
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
Celena said they weren’t aware of whether the cremated remains belonged to people who wished “to be out.”
But “if this is not how they would want to be remembered, we would just want to have a place for them to be,” Celena added.
Authorities are still investigating how the ashes were dumped on the land
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
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The 315 sets of remains will be placed into a crypt at one of the cemeteries belonging to Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries.
“I think it’s important to us to make sure that these people are not forgotten and not left,” Celena added. “It’s important to our community and our profession that we demonstrate how much we do care about these people.”
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
Netizens shared their opinions about the grim discovery, with one saying there are “lots of problems buried in the desert.”
“Choosing a funeral home in Las Vegas seems to be a gamble,” one said.
The internet spun its own wild theories and claimed the plots looked like “mob dumping grounds”
Image credits: 8 News Now — Las Vegas / YouTube
“If I were out hiking, and saw 300 piles of dirt/ashes (not to sound disrespectful),I would have never thought ‘oh there are cremains,’” another quipped.
“I would have honest to God thought an animal made those little hills or something. Am I the only one?? How does one even guess all those were someone’s remains???” they continued.
Some spun their own wild theories and claimed the plots seemed like “mob dumping grounds.”
“Is that where all the homeless went when they cleaned them all out?” read one comment.
“Vegas. Sounds like the mob has been using this area and the new generation got sloppy,” another wrote.
Netizens had plenty to say about the discovery of the piles of ashes
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Max Fox 1 month ago
Despite the more lurid imaginations, it was almost certainly neither "mob", nor "cartels". Burning a body takes a lot of fuel and energy, and besides, why would the Mob, Cartels, or a serial killer make little separate piles of ashes? There are hundreds of unclaimed bodies each year in Vegas, and I can see cemeteries and crematoriums burning them and putting them out in the desert instead of providing burial or internment spots that could be sold for more to paying costumers. A minimum of humanity would result in separate piles, rather than just dumping the ashes into the winds. There are also probably bodies that families had burned in the crematorium, but neve claimed the ashes.
Bailey 1 month ago
There was an article last year specifically about this problem in Vegas. Apparently with the rise in cost of living and increase in d**g deaths, there has been a jump in the number of remains which go unclaimed, as next of kin do not want to take on the costs. I'm not condoning dumping the remains in piles in the desert, but considering the alternative is that they will be dumped in a single mass grave as unclaimed, I think I would rather my remains be left in the desert
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Moira 1 month ago
I don't understand either that they are in apparent hills clearly separated AND some random person identified correctly they were cremated human remains. As a wild guess I would say someone working for a funeral home was tasked with getting rid of this and that person couldn't afford to lose their job but didn't want to make them disappear, so they put them into separate hills and called the police to inform, hoping the deceased people can get a proper recognition.
Antoinette the Red 1 month ago
But why keep them at all? Let them blow in the wind off a cliff
Load More Replies... Max Fox 1 month ago
Despite the more lurid imaginations, it was almost certainly neither "mob", nor "cartels". Burning a body takes a lot of fuel and energy, and besides, why would the Mob, Cartels, or a serial killer make little separate piles of ashes? There are hundreds of unclaimed bodies each year in Vegas, and I can see cemeteries and crematoriums burning them and putting them out in the desert instead of providing burial or internment spots that could be sold for more to paying costumers. A minimum of humanity would result in separate piles, rather than just dumping the ashes into the winds. There are also probably bodies that families had burned in the crematorium, but neve claimed the ashes.
Bailey 1 month ago
There was an article last year specifically about this problem in Vegas. Apparently with the rise in cost of living and increase in d**g deaths, there has been a jump in the number of remains which go unclaimed, as next of kin do not want to take on the costs. I'm not condoning dumping the remains in piles in the desert, but considering the alternative is that they will be dumped in a single mass grave as unclaimed, I think I would rather my remains be left in the desert
Load More Replies... Moira 1 month ago
I don't understand either that they are in apparent hills clearly separated AND some random person identified correctly they were cremated human remains. As a wild guess I would say someone working for a funeral home was tasked with getting rid of this and that person couldn't afford to lose their job but didn't want to make them disappear, so they put them into separate hills and called the police to inform, hoping the deceased people can get a proper recognition.
Antoinette the Red 1 month ago
But why keep them at all? Let them blow in the wind off a cliff
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