Houston Funeral Home: 79 Cremains Found After Damage

The Houston Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating the families of dozens of cremains found inside a funeral home that was damaged during Hurricane Beryl.

In April 2025, HPD’s Major Offenders Division discovered 79 cremains inside Richardson Mortuary, located at 3201 Brookfield Drive in southwest Houston. Detectives said the remains were found stored in poor condition with limited documentation after the building sustained significant storm damage in July 2024.

Officers collected the cremains and brought them to HPD headquarters while attempting to identify and contact next of kin. Over the past six months, investigators have successfully returned 22 cremains to relatives.

A list of the remaining unclaimed cremains and the crematories that handled them has been released by HPD.

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Anyone who may have information or who believes they are next of kin is asked to contact HPD’s Major Offenders Division at 713-308-3100 within the next 30 days.

After December 12, 2025, any cremains that remain unclaimed will be turned over to Harris County Bereavement Services for final interment in a respectful and ethical manner.

For more information or to claim the cremains, contact HPD at 713-308-3100 or Harris County Bereavement Services at 713-696-1952 after December 12.

Attorney Rick Detoto, who is representing the mortuary, released the following statement:

“It’s not unusual for a mortuary to have cremains that are fully paid for and not picked up by family. The list posted by HPD is an example. They were all properly stored and the mortuary made several attempts to contact their loved ones for pick up. This list goes back, in some cases, many years. They were, at all times, available for pick up by family members. The business has been at the same location for decades with the same phone number.”