Remains of 5th person found at Gary funeral home

GARY – Lake County officials say the remains of a fifth person have been found at a Gary funeral home that closed three years ago.

Authorities could not immediately determine whether the cremated remains found Thursday at the Serenity Gardens Funeral Home are related to four bodies found there earlier in the week or whether they might have been left from a previous owner of the funeral home.

“It could have been unclaimed from a while back,” said Tom Branson, chief investigator with the Lake County coroner’s office.

Investigators, searching for records that might provide clues to the identities of the four bodies found at the funeral home, discovered the box of human ashes Thursday.

Lake County Coroner David Pastrick said the cremated remains were in a box in a dark, moldy back room.

Investigators are hoping the former director of the funeral home, Darryl Cammack, will provide documents that might help authorities determine the identity of the remains found after a church bought the property in a tax sale.

Cammack said in a telephone interview May 27 that he didn’t believe the bodies were left from when he ran the funeral home. He said he let another funeral director use the facility after his license was revoked in 2006, although state officials say they have no record of that.

The Associated Press left a message seeking further comment on Cammack’s cell phone Friday.