PUEBLO • Black birds flew over Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter’s funeral home as the tall building loomed over those who passed by Friday.

The scene followed a 36-hour period of law enforcement learning that the Davis Mortuary, co-owned by Cotter and his brother, Chris, was allegedly being used to stash at least 20 bodies, some of which had been rotting for 15 years, inside a secret room in the building. In addition to the discovered bodies, Cotter allegedly admitted to investigators that he “may” have issued next-of-kin fake cremains.

The Cotter brothers have yet to face any charges, and authorities confirmed at a Friday news conference that Brian Cotter has yet to step down from his position.

Friday evening, tents were erected at the backside of the mortuary. A Fremont County Coroner trailer with the words “Regional Incident Response” on its side was backed into one.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Jared Polis called on Brian Cotter to resign amid the multi-agency criminal investigation that’s underway after state inspectors on Wednesday found “around 20” decomposing bodies hidden inside a private funeral home owned by Cotter during an annual inspection. 

Polis also declared a disaster emergency to mobilize state resources to respond to the incident, and protect public health and safety, according to a news release from the governor’s office. The declaration also encourages Pueblo County to seek, and other counties to provide, support for the Pueblo County Coroner’s Office operations and the ongoing mitigation and investigation of Davis Mortuary.

“I’m sickened for the families of the loved ones who are impacted by this unacceptable misconduct,” Polis stated in the news release. “It is clear public trust has been lost and Mr. Cotter must resign as the Pueblo County Coroner immediately.”

“We don’t know what his intentions are,” said Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero of Brian Cotter. The sheriff added that a resignation would be appropriate. “There’s not a system in place right now that allows for the removal of an elected county official … we’re going to work with legislators to see what the process might look like in the future.”

At least four law enforcement vehicles surrounded the tan brick building south of downtown at 128 Broadway Ave., with tape and traffic cones prohibiting people from entering. Curtains covered its rectangular-shaped windows, blocking people from seeing what’s inside.

“Every time we walked by that place, we always wondered if it was haunted. Now I know why we got that feeling,” said Casseiopeoa Robertson, a nearby resident who passes by the mortuary often. “I’ve been in mortuaries and funeral homes, and, usually, they feel peaceful. That place — it had a bad vibe.”

The discovery of the bodies happened after inspectors from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) went to the mortuary Wednesday for an annual inspection — the first one state authorities have conducted on the place, Polis said during the news conference at the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.

The state inspection happened this year because of the Sunset Continue Mortuary Science Code Regulation bill (HB24-1335) that Polis signed into law this past legislative session.

“Prior to this new bill, it was a largely unregulated field, and I think that we’ve all learned a lot over the past few years that, unfortunately, whether it’s banking, whether it’s retail, whether it’s insurance, there’s always going to be people that seem to take advantage of other people,” Polis said.

In the meantime, El Paso and Fremont counties will be handling the responsibilities of the Coroner’s Office. Deputy county coroners are also still working in a “limited capacity” as investigators determine if the office’s staff of about eight people had a hand in the alleged crimes.

Led by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, law enforcement is taking a “two-pronged” approach in the investigation and have a “respectful” identification process of the bodies, CBI Director Armando Saldite said.

Saldite said investigators are dressed in hazmat gear as they go through the “meticulous” process of searching every room, which could take multiple days.

“We hope to have a final confirmed number of victims sometime this weekend. Please understand that may take some time, and having a final confirmed number (relies on) the partnership that we’ll have with our coroners as they go through the identification process,” Saldite said.

Since the Coroner’s Office is responsible for body removal, the “at least” 20 bodies remained in the mortuary Friday.

Mark Martinez, a nearby resident who was watching the police presence at the mortuary, said he came over after learning about the incident on social media.

Martinez said he almost used the mortuary for his father, who passed away in April.

“He could’ve been inside there right now,” he said, lamenting for the families who now don’t have closure.

The Pueblo resident said he didn’t smell any bad aromas when he walked into the mortuary in April, noting the man he spoke to was very professional.

As for charges, it’s uncertain when the Cotter brothers will face them, and it may only happen after the investigation is completed, which officials said could take months.

“This is going to be a slow and thorough investigation. Real life is not like TV shows where crimes are investigated, solved and convicted by a jury in 60 minutes,” Pueblo District Attorney Kala Beauvais said at the conference. “It’s a frustratingly long process, but it’s necessary.”

Authorities have been in contact with the Cotters and are not considering the brothers a flight risk. James Martin, deputy chief of the Pueblo Police Department, said they are confident in their assessment, but they can’t divulge further details for why they aren’t a flight risk due to the investigation.

The news of the decomposing bodies had rattled through the community by Friday morning, with most of the nearby residents and businesses having heard something about the incident.

Other residents like Robertson told The Gazette that the building always had a “weird vibe” to it, many of them stating that they never saw anyone come in and out of it.

Robertson said she figured something was happening Thursday morning after seeing a reporter’s camera set up on the corner while taking her child to school, initially thinking that somebody had died.

Once she returned, police officers were putting up tape. About an hour later, the place was buzzing with activity.

Residents shared similar sentiments — sending their hearts out to the families affected and also wondering how nobody noticed the smell of rotting bodies so close by.

“Our hearts go out to all of those impacted by this event. This affects not only our city and county, but our entire state. We remain committed to ensuring that the trust of this community stays strong,” Lucero said at the conference.

The shockwaves across the southern Colorado community were magnified Friday thanks to the continued legal fallout from the Jon Hallford and Carie Hallford case with the Return to Nature Funeral Home.

Less than 50 miles north of Davis Mortuary, a 4th Judicial District judge in Colorado Springs rejected a state plea agreement for the co-owner of the Penrose funeral home. Jon Hallford pleaded guilty to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse last year and was expected to receive two decades behind bars for the state crimes Friday.

The Hallfords were arrested in late 2023 after more than 190 bodies in various states of decomposition were uncovered at the Penrose location. The couple faced both state and federal charges.

The 20-year prison sentence Jon Hallford was expected to receive Friday would have run concurrently with his 20-year federal sentence on wire fraud charges.

Carie Hallford is still awaiting sentencing after she entered into a federal plea agreement earlier this month that is likely to result in a 15-year prison sentence. Her sentencing hearing is set for December, and her state case remains in limbo until the conclusion of her federal case. 

“Are people going to be able to trust funeral homes?” Martinez said, “I don’t think everyone is like this, but I’m sure people are going to be really checking things out before they go in and have their loved one taken care of.”