Colorado state inspectors discovered roughly 20 decomposing bodies stashed in a hidden room of a funeral home manned by a county coroner, according to authorities.

The corpses were found on Wednesday in a room behind a door that was concealed by a cardboard display during an inspection of Davis Mortuary in Pueblo.

Brian Cotter, an owner of the funeral home and the county coroner, had asked inspectors not to go inside the room, according to a document from state regulators.

The inspectors found a “strong odor of decomposition,” upon entering, the document said.

Cotter told inspectors that some of the bodies in the hidden room had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years, and that families may have been provided fake cremains of their relatives, according to the document.

Colorado Sta

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