(TRINIDAD, Colo.) — Multiple people in Trinidad are now urging for a thorough state investigation into the actions of the Las Animas County Coroner, Dominic Verquer. The controversy surfaced at a county meeting after a cemetery owner disclosed that Verquer had buried multiple bodies on their property without any notification.
The situation came to light back in September when Carl Mestas, the owner of Starkville Cemetery in Trinidad, made a shocking discovery while exhuming a body supposedly buried by the coroner. Mestas found not just one but two bodies stacked atop each other in the same grave.
At a recent Las Animas County Board of County Commissioner’s meeting on Dec. 5, Thomas Murphy, the owner of Trinidad’s Mullare-Murphy Funeral Home, called for a comprehensive investigation.
“My goals today will be to convince you and other members of the community, people outside our community that may have been impacted by the actions of Dominic Verquer, to sign a petition calling on the Attorney General and the CBI to begin an investigation,” Murphy declared during the meeting.
At the meeting, Mestas recounted how he received a letter last year from an individual requesting the exhumation of her father’s body, which she said the coroner had buried at Starkville Cemetery.
“Mr. Verquer told her that he had no way to contact me to ask for access to the property. Mr. Verquer had never contacted me to let me know that the burial had taken place,” Mestas said this was a burial he did not know of.
After contacting Verquer, Mestas said the coroner admitted to burying three bodies at his cemetery without ever informing him. According to Mestas, Verquer purportedly threatened Mestas and others with arrest if the bodies were exhumed, claiming authority over the matter within his county.
Undeterred, Mestas proceeded with an exhumation on Sept. 6, unveiling the disturbing sight of two bodies stacked on top of each other. One of them was an unidentified man.
“Just one on top of the other, not even any dirt in between. And that’s pretty sick, to be honest, it’s disgusting… What kind of human being does that?” Mestas said.
Further exacerbating the issue, Mestas and Murphy said the coroner did not have any legally required burial permits for these three burials. Yet, on a copy of the death certificate of the person they exhumed, obtained by Murphy, the funeral home listed is the Las Animas County Coroner.
Seeking accountability, Murphy raised pertinent questions, emphasizing, “Why is the coroner putting his name on the death certificate as the funeral home and then burying bodies?”
The gravity of the situation gained more weight as the family of a missing father, who disappeared nearby, joined the chorus for an investigation, inquiring into the identity of the unidentified man. One of the daughters spoke at the meeting, appealing to the commissioners to aid in identifying the individuals the coroner had buried over the past two years.
FOX21 News reached out to the Las Animas County Coroner for a comment, to which the office said they are aware of the allegations but declined to provide any statement at this time.
