Metal scans sought
at mortuary

Scans would show whether
caskets were stolen from graves

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> Metal detectors may help resolve accusations that Memorial Mortuary in Hilo cheated customers by stealing caskets from graves.

On Wednesday, investigators from the Attorney General's Office acting on a search warrant gathered records from the mortuary.

Lead investigator Donald Wong said among possible charges his office is investigating is theft of caskets.

Mortuary owner Robert Diego said the investigation was prompted by complaints from Lucille Mossman, his former girlfriend who had his child six years ago and since has demanded that he divorce his wife and marry her.

Mossman could not be reached for comment.

But a May 14, 2001, letter from Mossman to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs appears to form the basis of some complaints against Diego.

In the one-page letter, Mossman names two families who had loved ones buried in Mauna Kea Memorial Park "in the early 1980s."

When the remains were dug up in the 1990s for reburial in Homelani Memorial Park, they were found in body bags without caskets, the letter says.

The letter does not say what happened to the caskets, but Diego says Mossman accused him of stealing them "at 1 a.m."

Diego says some caskets are made of wood and could rot in the ground. Metal handles, screws and other metal parts would still be in the ground, he says.

That's where scans by metal detectors could be useful.

A statement from the attorney general yesterday said, "Records from the mortuary are being analyzed to determine which if any burial sites warrant a nonintrusive scan."

Permission of relatives will be obtained before making the scans, the statement said.

Diego said if the charge that he dug up caskets were true, the affected graves would lack enough dirt to fill them, and family members would have noticed years ago.

Diego's attorney Brenda Carreira issued a statement that the allegations are "false, preposterous and absurd."

"We have never removed any bodies from any caskets. We treat all loved ones with dignity and respect," she said.