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Trenton, NJ – The Division
of Criminal Justice is investigating an accidental
body release at the Regional Medical Examiner
Office in Newark 17 months ago that resulted
in the release of cremated remains of the
wrong person to a family in California.
“What happened is totally
unacceptable, and we intend to hold people
accountable,’’ said Division of
Criminal Justice Director Deborah Gramiccioni.
“I express my deepest condolences to
the family for this confusion and vow to make
every change possible to make sure something
like this never happens again.”
The Office of the State Medical
Examiner is part of the criminal justice division
in the Department of Law & Public Safety.
The error was discovered in
January, when employees from a funeral home
contracted by Hudson County came to pick up
the body of an unclaimed, indigent, person
for burial. The body had been at the medical
examiner’s office unclaimed for more
than a year. In searching for the body of
the unclaimed person, it was discovered that
the body of Mark Miller was still at the Northern
Regional Medical Examiner’s Office and
that the remains of the unclaimed person had
been mistakenly cremated in October 2007 and
sent to Mr. Miller’s brother in California.
Criminal justice division
detectives immediately launched an internal
investigation and sought to get in touch with
Mr. Miller’s next of kin, Gramiccioni
said. Detectives made contact with Miller’s
family last week. The division will cover
the cost of any funeral arrangements for Mr.
Miller, she said.
Gramiccioni said standard
operating procedures for the medical examiner’s
office demands that body identifications are
checked by three separate individuals. Names
on body bags must be verified and matched
with body release forms. “The internal
investigation is aimed at revealing exactly
what happened at the medical examiner’s
office more than a year-and-a-half ago,”
she said.
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