Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter is facing a criminal investigation after state inspectors conducting an inspection on Aug. 20 allegedly found improperly stored bodies in various stages of decomposition in a concealed room of his privately-owned funeral home and mortuary, Davis Mortuary.

Cotter, a three-term Republican county coroner, allegedly told state inspectors with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) that some of the bodies had been in the hidden room as long as 15 years, and that families of decedents may have been given fake cremains.

In an Aug. 21 press conference, local and state law enforcement and regulatory officials discussed the ongoing investigation into what Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Armando Saldatecalled "a deeply disturbing and tr

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