Human Remains Discovered, but No Public Safety Threat Seen 

BOSTON, July 17, 2014—The investigation into a former funeral home director took a new direction today after search warrants led to the recovery of human remains in a Weymouth storage facility, but authorities see no public safety threat, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Boston Police detectives assigned to the Suffolk DA’s Special Investigations Unit today executed a search warrant at a unit inside of the Public Storage facility on Main Street in Weymouth. The search warrant was obtained amid an ongoing investigation to the actions of JOSEPH V. O’DONNELL (D.O.B. 9/10/58), currently in custody on larceny charges.

While executing this search warrant, detectives observed what appeared to be human remains. They suspended their search and notified the Norfolk DA’s office and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Both agencies sent representatives to the scene.

As investigators continued their search of the storage unit, they confirmed that multiple sets of adult remains were inside the storage unit. Those remains are being transferred to the custody of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, a process that is expected to take several hours. Based on the facts and evidence developed thus far, investigators do not believe their deaths were the result of foul play, but the circumstances of their placement in the storage facility is a central point of inquiry.

Today’s search warrant follows one executed at a storage facility on Linwood Street in Somerville yesterday. Investigators discovered cremated remains at that facility and have seized them pending further investigation into their origin.

“Our top priority right now is determining the identity of the remains we’ve discovered,” Conley said. “We’ve seized records and documents that could help us locate those people’s families, but this will be a time- and labor-intensive task.”

O’Donnell is currently held on $10,000 cash bail on two counts of larceny over $250 in Dorchester Municipal Court for allegedly taking more than $12,000 in pre-payment funds from an elderly couple to cover two future funerals at O’Donnell’s Neponset Avenue funeral home. When the victims sought to apply one payment to another family member who passed away, they learned that the funeral home was closed and O’Donnell was unable to provide them with their payments. He was arrested by Boston Police on April 10 on that case and is due back in court tomorrow.

Police and prosecutors are also investigating the validity of other funeral arrangements for which O’Donnell took money, including arrangements he allegedly undertook after his funeral director’s license had lapsed in 2008. That investigation began with a referral earlier this year from the Division of Professional Licensure, which has been assisting in the probe of O’Donnell’s potentially unlicensed activity.

Anyone with concerns about a payment to O’Donnell for funeral or cremation services may contact the Suffolk DA’s Special Investigations Unit at 617-619-4010.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.