There are many events that have unfolded over the past couple weeks involving Downard Funeral Home, some including Idaho State University (ISU). This all began when a severely decomposed body was reported by a state health inspector. Law Enforcement then investigated the funeral home and found 12 bodies, in various states of decomposition, and 50 fetuses. The owner of the funeral home, Lance Peck has a history of violations according to east Idaho news.
ISU has had a long-standing relationship with Downard. When Peck took over in 2007 this relationship continued until May 2020, when ISU ended the contract with Downard after not receiving bodies intended for research. According to an ISU official statement, “During multi-year periods between 2011 and 2017, Downard failed to provide anatomical donations to the University. Due to a lack of donations, Idaho State ended its relationship with Downward in May 2020 and established a formal process with Wilks Funeral Home.”
When the university transferred to Wilks Funeral Home they contacted the families of the loved ones that had signed an intent-to-donate form to inform them of the change in funeral homes. When these families were contacted it was discovered that some of the families believed that Downard Funeral Home had already donated the remains, as said in the official statement made by ISU, “In the process of contacting individuals, the University learned that some families believed the remains of their deceased loved ones had already been donated to Idaho State through Downard Funeral Home. The University had no record of receiving the donations.” Upon finding this out, the university took action. According to the statement, “The University immediately requested a comprehensive internal audit of all records and dealings with Downard. The audit indicated multiple causes for concern regarding Downard Funeral Home. Idaho State University filed formal complaints with the Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Pocatello Police Department, and the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses.”
As the investigation into the funeral home continues, six of the 12 bodies and the fetuses have been positively identified. ISU released a statement on September 9 detailing the events that occurred involving the found fetuses. “The fetuses recovered last week from Downard Funeral Home have been positively identified as remains that were donated to Idaho State University for educational purposes as part of a decades-old biology collection showing fetal development. This collection was transferred to Downard Funeral Home for cremation in April 2017.”
According to the statement, Idaho Legislation passed the act known as the “Idaho Unborn Infants Dignity Act, Idaho Code 39-9306” which states that public institutions can not use infant remains or embryonic stem cells for research or study purposes. ISU determined that the act likely applied to the university and transferred the fetuses to Downard to be cremated. “In April 2017, Downard Funeral Home picked up the collection containing 61 fetuses, the majority of which were donated to ISU prior to 1981,” according to the statement.
Unfortunately, these events have negatively affected the families of loved ones. Eva Bode and Tom Henderson are a married couple from Virginia. Bode’s sister, Charlotte Ann Mygrant, was one of the six identified bodies in the funeral home. Mygrant passed away after suffering a severe heart attack on August 17th. When Mygrant passed away at the Portneuf Medical Center the staff contacted Bode and asked where she wanted the body transferred to. At this time she was still in Virginia and asked what would be a good funeral home since she knew nothing about the area. The hospital recommended Downard and Bode agreed to have her sister transferred there. According to East Idaho News, “Bode spoke with Lance Peck, the owner of Downard, the day her sister passed away. She says he assured her everything would be taken care of, and Mygrant’s wishes to be cremated would be fulfilled.”
After multiple conversations between Bode and Peck, the owner of Downard Funeral Home, Bode made one last phone call to Peck on September 1 the two-week anniversary of her sister’s death. Peck was driving and Bode said to call her back as soon as he was back in the office. After this Bode looked up the funeral home to find the office number and saw what was happening. On September 3rd police executed the search warrant and Bode received a call later that day positively identifying that her sister was one of the 12 bodies found. “This is stuff you only see on TV. I was very upset because Lance made me feel like he was really genuine, caring and really taking care of this,” Bode says. “To find this out on the internet was unbelievable,” said Bode according to East Idaho News. In the end, the family stated that they just wanted Peck to lose his license and be criminally charged. No charges have been filed yet and this case is an ongoing investigation.
