Former Uniontown funeral director allegedly kept cremated remains in Tupperware
Alyssa Choiniere/For the Observer-Reporter
Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower announces new charges against former funeral director Stephen E. Kezmarsky III after investigators found 21 cremated remains in a Tupperware bin, along with funeral home records, in a storage locker.
Cremated remains were found in a Dollar General bag in a storage locker at Holiday Park Storage. Former funeral director Stephen E. Kezmarsky III, 51, of Uniontown, was charged in the case.
Alyssa Choiniere/For the Observer-Reporter
Investigators found 21 cremated remains, 14 of them unlabeled, in a storage locker at Holiday Park Storage. Former funeral director Stephen E. Kezmarsky III, 51, of Uniontown was charged in the case.
A former Uniontown funeral director charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from pre-paid funeral customers was arrested a third time after investigators found the cremated remains of 21 people stashed in Tupperware in a storage locker.
Stephen Edward Kezmarsky III, 51, of South Pennsylvania Avenue, Uniontown, was charged by the Fayette County district attorney’s office Thursday with seven counts of theft, 14 counts of tampering with records and 21 counts each of obstruction of justice, abuse of a corpse and intentional desecration of venerated objects.
The cremated remains of one person were found in a plastic Dollar General bag. District Attorney Rich Bower described it as “extremely outrageous” during a news conference.
“All of these actions are in complete disregard, disrespectful and insensitive to the deceased’s families’ needs and feelings in a time where there should have been concern about those families,” he said.
Bower said he could not speculate as to why Kezmarsky allegedly kept the remains.
“I have no idea. I mean when you really get down to it, I don’t think any of us will ever really know what the purpose was,” he said.
Kezmarsky was arrested at the Fayette County Adult Probation Office Thursday morning and lodged in Fayette County Prison in lieu of a $500,000 bond. Investigators are working to identify 14 of the 21 cremated remains, which were not labeled. They also allegedly found boxes of paperwork along with the remains in a storage locker at Holiday Park Storage.
Kezmarsky was already facing hundreds of felony counts for allegedly stealing about $600,000 from more than 150 people who were pre-paying for funerals at the former Kezmarsky Funeral home between October 2005 and March 2017.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his case, a family contacted county Detective John Marshall, asking if he had located the cremated remains of their loved ones. Kezmarsky handed over six cremated remains, and claimed he had no others.
Kezmarsky was also asked about records after investigators could not find any during a search of the funeral home. He said he did not know where they were, Bower said.
Marycarol Kezmarsky, who leases the storage locker, contacted the district attorney’s office June 5 after she found paperwork in the storage locker. She said she allowed Kezmarsky to use the storage locker for personal items from June to December 2018 until “things changed” and she changed the lock, court documents said. She was married to Kezmarsky’s father, who is now deceased.
Bower said it will be “very, very difficult” to identify the cremated remains, because no DNA can be extracted. They plan to take three months to try to identify the remains and will properly bury those that cannot be identified. The office is working with Fayette County Coroner Phillip Reilly in the identification and burial process. They have contacted several religious leaders to hold services, and hope to find additional priests and pastors. They include the Rev. Robert Lubic of Immaculate Conception Church in Connellsville, St. John the Evangelist and St. Rita Church; Pastor Terry Murray of Pennsville Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant; Nicholas Cook of Abundant Life Church, and Jason Leimer of Faith Assembly of God. John Fabry, a deputy coroner and director of Goldsboro-Fabry Funeral Home in Fairchance, said he would provide the office with proper urns.
Kezmarsky was first charged in January 2018 by the state Office of the Attorney General and again by the district attorney’s office May 2, 2018, when additional people came forward. In those two cases, he faces charges of unlicensed broker activity, 44 counts of forgery and 127 counts each of theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. He is awaiting trial in those cases.
He allegedly collected advanced payments from clients for funeral expenses and used them for business and personal expenses instead of placing the money in escrow accounts. The funeral home was sold in April 2018 after he filed for bankruptcy in 2017. He permanently surrendered his state licenses for funeral work after the first set of charges was filed.
He was arraigned on his new charges by Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros.
Anyone who has not received cremated remains from Kezmarsky is asked to call Detective John Marshall at the Fayette County District Attorney’s Office at 724-430-1245.