Last December, 1,460 residents—who died without an identity or whose remains were not claimed—were buried at the Los Angeles County Crematorium and Cemetery in Boyle Heights.
Since 1896, the city of Los Angeles has annually honored many Jane and John Does, as well as unclaimed bodies in this facility, also known as “Potter’s Field,” which has become the resting place of many homeless people who have died in LA.
“There are many unclaimed here, they’re completely unknown,” staff chaplain at LA County USC Medical Center Nick Jordan said, ”But there are others who may be from impoverished families. The families just can’t afford the $350 to bury them.”
Many of these persons died on the streets of Skid Row or in other parts of LA County. Some of them were forgotten in nursing homes and died there.
According to the new campaign “End Homelessness Now-LA Campaign (EHN-LA)” an estimated 1,000 unhoused people died last year in LA County. Six bodies a day are brought to the cemetery.
Caretaker Albert Gaskin, prepares the bodies to be cremated by giving each of them a round metal tag with a number engraved.
Every morning, around 4 a.m., the bodies are cremated. The ashes of each individual are kept in small brown plastic boxes. Gaskin, who has worked for the County Cemetery for over 45 years, says an estimated 6,000 individuals are kept in a room at the crematorium, if relatives come to claim the remains.
It’s an emotional rollercoaster filled with tears and regrets, when individuals come and pick up the ashes.
“Sometimes you feel their emotions,” Gaskin said in an interview. “So you just say, ‘Are you alright?’ And you sit down to talk to them and pat them on the shoulder. You just have to do the best you can to be a help to them.”
For Gaskin, it doesn’t feel like a job, but more so an important service for him and the LA community, however, at times it consumes him.
Gaskin is in charge of the book that keeps all unclaimed deaths until they either get buried in a mass grave or picked up by relatives.
Everything is still done manually.
But that might change according to the Department of Public Health. Officials said they are planning to digitize those records in the near future. However, some cases handled by the coroner—which is about a third—can be searched for, online.
But for now Gaskin is the keeper of those records, which are stored in a fireproof safe in a room somewhere in the old chapel-like crematorium.
“You get used to it, and then you’re not,” he explained in an interview. “So just say your little prayer and keep on. Trying to make the day. Tomorrow will be better. Always look for tomorrow.”
More than 100 people visited to honor the unclaimed deaths of thousands of local residents they have never met before. Even different religious leaders, such as Christians, Buddhists, Jews and Humanists decided to stop by and pay their last respect as well, with prayers.
“They come to us as Larry 22s, Margaret 54s,” said the Catholic priest, Father Chris Ponnet, who lead the ceremony. “Sometimes families are with them, and some are not. But today, we as a community, in the great tradition of this county, say, once again, ‘They existed.’”
The morgue or coroner usually contacts relatives—if any can be found—to have the remains of their loved ones picked up, and pay the mortuary fees.
Some people, who don’t claim their loved ones simply don’t have the money to pay for cremation – which is around $350. Others simply don’t want to make arrangements to pay their last respects.
“We see that more and more every year,” investigator at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office Joyce Kato said. “They don’t even feel that they’re obligated to make arrangements for a long-lost sibling.”
According to Kato, the ones who show interest are only interested in the death certificate, which opens doors to liquifying assets, such as life insurance and bank accounts.
However, if individuals aren’t able to be claimed, coroners sometimes seek help at www.unclaimedpersons.org, which is an online community with over 600 volunteers who search public records to find family members.
Founder of the online site, Megan Smolenyak from Haddonfield, N.J., refers to the destiny of unclaimed persons as a “quiet epidemic.”
One of the annual participants who pays respect to her mother is Sam Judis. Judis found out years later that her mother passed away, since she had lost contact with her.
“I hadn’t spoken to her in many years,” she said in an interview. “And the first thing I did was check to see if she was still alive, because I couldn’t find her.”
After discovering that her mother is buried at the County Cemetery, Judis did not have the strength to go there right away.
“It took me a few years to accept it,” Judis admitted, “and a few more years to be able to come.”
