DENVER (AP) — Authorities said Tuesday they removed two dozen decomposing bodies and multiple containers of bones and likely human tissue after discovering remains last week behind a hidden door of a Colorado funeral home owned by the local county coroner.
The homes of Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter and his brother, Davis Mortuary co-owner Chris Cotter, were also searched as part of the criminal investigation into the funeral home in Pueblo, about 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Denver, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said.
Neither brother has been arrested or charged as an investigation that is expected to be lengthy continues. The Cotters have not been questioned because they retained lawyers, CBI said.
Brian Cotter’s lawyer, David Beller, did not immediately provide a comment.
It wasn’t immediately known who was representing Chris Cotter.
The agency previously said that at least 20 decomposing bodies were found at the mortuary on Aug. 20 by inspectors who noticed a strong odor and found the bodies hidden behind a cardboard display. Brian Cotter had asked the inspectors not to enter the room, according to officials.
Pueblo County Commissioners on Tuesday renewed their calls for Cotter, who is an elected official, to resign and avoid a costly recall election. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has also urged him to step down. Cotter remains the county's coroner, but coroners from two nearby counties are running his office, CBI said.
Brian Cotter told inspectors from the state Department of Regulatory Agencies that some of the bodies had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years, according to a document explaining why the funeral home's license was suspended. Cotter also told them he may have given fake ashes to families who wanted their loved ones cremated, the department said.
Colorado long had some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the nation, with no routine inspections. That's allowed numerous abuses, including a pending case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies found in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Pueblo.
Brown reported from Billings, Montana
Members of the Colorado State Highway Patrol hazmat team get ready to enter the Davis Mortuary, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Pueblo, Colo. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships from conducting trade, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com.
Madani said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
