Family decries uncertainty over late grandfather's remains ahead of burial at Altadena cemetery
ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- An Alhambra family lost their patriarch nearly three months ago, but because of the Eaton Fire which severely impacted the operations at a cemetery in Altadena, the mournful relatives have not been able to hold a burial service.
This comes amid uncertainty over the grandfather's remains.
"Not until we reached out and we asked, hey, where's our relative?' did they say, oh you know, he's out here. In Long Beach," said Candace Tinoco, the man's granddaughter. "It's like, wait a second, we were told originally he was going to be in Bellflower. Why is he in Long Beach? Why weren't we communicated that?"
Mountain View Mortuary & Cemetery was founded in 1882, has more than 142,000 internments, and was chosen by Tinoco's grandparents to be their final resting place because of its beauty.
On Jan. 7 and 8, when the Eaton Fire surrounded Mountain View and employees fought the fire saving the property, the bodies awaiting burial were evacuated to other mortuaries. But since then, Tinoco says it's been hard to get information, mistakes were made with the death certificate, and they still don't have a date to complete this difficult process.
"Of course, you want to be sympathetic and I don't think we're the only family going through something like this. When you look at everything that has happened. What we've had to go through. It makes you question, this isn't right," said Tinoco.
The family says their loved one is set to be buried here at the Mountain View mausoleum. It's been closed since the fire, is still without power, and still needs to be cleaned. Something they say, they were never told.
Although the family believes their grandfather's remains are still in Long Beach and they've filed a complaint, ABC7 received a statement from the cemetery.
"Mountain View was contacted yesterday by the Department of Consumer Affairs about the complaint recently filed by the family," the statement said. "Mountain View takes this complaint seriously and welcomes the investigation to resolve any possible concerns. We can confirm the families loved one is in the safe custody of mountain view cemetery in Altadena. Often, these matters are misunderstandings and our priority is to resolve all concerns quickly to bring family closure as soon as possible."
The family still wants their relative buried at Mountain View, where he will one day be joined by his wife who survived him, awaiting closure.
