Remains mix-up spurs state changes

PORTLAND, Maine -- A mix-up that caused the family of a car accident victim to receive the wrong remains has resulted in changes at the state Medical Examiner's Office.

Security policies were completely revamped after Derrick Cote's family late last year was mistakenly given the cremated skeletal remains from two 19th-century unmarked graves in Lyman, said Jim Ferland, the office administrator.

The situation was revealed after the Portland Press Herald contacted the state about the historic remains that were being tested at the Medical Examiner's Office to determine age and gender. They were dug up by a property owner while excavating a gravel pit.

Ferland said the remains were signed out for delivery to the Dolby & Dorr Funeral Chapel in Gorham, which handled the memorial service for Cote. The error was discovered when the Lyman remains turned up missing and an investigation showed that a body that had been signed out to Pine State Livery Service was still present.

"I thought it was the end of my world that day," said Timothy Dolby, the chapel owner, who gave the cremated remains to the family and later had to switch them with the proper remains. "My heart is still broken."

Cote's family was upset but "very understanding" about the mix-up, Dolby said. His mother, Yvette Cote, said she had no comment.

Ferland said that he knew of no other occasion in which a body had been improperly released by the state but that "one is too many."

A similar case surfaced this year in Massachusetts, prompting that state's governor to place the chief medical examiner on leave. The Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office mistakenly released a body to a funeral home. The body was buried under the name of another person, and it took a State Police investigation to find the "lost" remains.

Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe briefed Governor John Baldacci on the Maine case and the steps taken to avoid a similar situation, said Joy Leach, a spokeswoman for the governor.