Unable to pay for husband's funeral, Apple Valley woman allegedy buries him in backyard

presstelegram ^ | 06/21/2013 | Beatriz E. Valenzuela

[JoeProBono]

APPLE VALLEY Calif- Unable to pay for a funeral, an Apple Valley woman reportedly told sheriff's deputies she was forced to bury her husband in a shallow grave in the couple's backyard weeks after the man died, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials. Investigators are trying to determine if the man died of natural causes.

The identity of the deceased man has not been released. The woman has also not been identified but neighbors and San Bernardino County property records show they are Thomas and Yvonne Winn.

"She's a really nice lady," said Colin Wilson who lives behind the Winns. "She would always wave to me every morning."

Apple Valley deputies were called out to a home in the 16000 block of Navajo Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday for a welfare check on a 63-year-old man, according to authorities.

At the home, deputies found the man's 59-year-old wife who told deputies her husband, who has not been identified, had died weeks earlier, according to sheriff's officials. Unable to pay for a funeral, she reportedly told officials she buried him in the backyard.

"I saw her kneel down near where the cops started digging and she just broke down," Wilson said. "She was obviously devastated."

The man's body was found in a shallow grave and his body did not appear to have any obvious signs of trauma, sheriff's officials said.

The woman was not arrested pending a cause of death ruling from the coroner, according to Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the sheriff's department.

Neighbors said the 63-year-old man had been ill for some time.

Touched by the woman's situation, Wilson and his sister, Emily Wilson, decided to set up an online fundraising account through Fundrazr.com where people can donate to help bury the woman's husband.

"I just feel terrible for her," he said. "I can't imagine what she went through."

In the first hour, the online fundraising effort had already raised $120.

Phyllis Jerscheid, owner of Jerschied's Men's Apparel in Victorville, said she would donate a suit to the Winns so he could be buried.

"This story just broke my heart,"Jerscheid said from her busy store on Hesperia Road. "I wanted to help in some small way."

The couple had recently purchased the home in November but moved in early this year, said Wilson, after some repairs had been made to the property.

"She was out there almost every day painting and fixing up that house all by herself," Wilson said. "She's a really strong lady."

A day after their neighborhood was overtaken by sheriff's investigators, news vans now lined Navajo Road.

"It's really weird to think that she was able to do this and no one saw anything," said Wilson as he stood in his back yard which faced the rear of the couple's home. "We all have chain link fences here and we can see right into each others back yards. I can't believe no one saw anything."

It's a violation of the state's health and safety code to bury a human body anywhere other than an approved and recognized cemetery.

To donate, visit, www.fundrazr.com and search Thomas Winn.

[Average Al]

"a little cheaper...but cremation usually still requires you buy a coffin. go figure."

Perhaps a card board one if you want to show the body.

[JCBreckenridge]

Christians believe in the resurrection of the body, thus defilement of graves and bodies in graves is wrong.

[Vigilanteman]

Christians believe that the body is an essential part, and we believe in bodily resurrection.

Do you seriously think our God, who can resurrect a body which has decayed into dust and bone fragments, could not do the same thing with one converted to ashes and bone fragments?

[Albion Wilde]

I really don’t have a problem with this, as long as a person is buried in a coffin I think. I wouldn’t have a problem buying a house with the old folks buried in the yard, as long as they’re not next to the house and as long as they died of natural causes. ;)

Remains are usually required also to be in a cement liner far from a residential zone -- as a cemetery is the modern equivalent of a "south 40". Human decomposition can enter the water table. Animals will dig up a shallow grave; Scottish people, also American indians and frontier folks often covered graves with cairns (pyramids of stones) to prevent that. And if the next owners want to dig a garden, discovery of bones in a shallow grave would put them on the hook for identifying the corpse and all the costs involved with moving the remains to a more suitable location.

We may hate some of the effects of living close to one another in civilization, but there are often practical reasons.

[JCBreckenridge]

So why not dig up graves and ‘convert’ the remains into ashes and fragments? That’s the same thing, right?

Why do you think Christians in the Roman Empire resisted cremation and put their dead in the catacombs?

[Secret Agent Man]

and i am not bagging on her to be clear, i am just saying sometimes there ae real reasons why certain things are done to certain specs and rules. a second big issue with shallow graves and decaying bodies is the ground is going to give and you’re gongto have an indent and if it’s just sand and dirt and it’s muddy either the body or parts could make it back to the surface or you’re gonna step there and possibly sink in....

there are sometimes good reasons on how to buy someone properly.

[kenavi]

Cultural taboos about burial go back a long ways, to pre-historic times and in the ancient Middle East (e.g. Iran) for examples.

Jews have associated the burning of bodies with the holocaust of idol worship of ancient Carthage, and more recently that of the Nazis.

Traditional burial can't last, our species is filling up the earth, and more and more we plant infrastructure underground.

But unless as the Japanese have done we associate a sense of reverence with cremation or common graves, then we will eventually have to make changes through government fiat.

[The Great RJ]

I plan to donate my body to a medical school to train doctors in anatomy. My brother-in-law did this and when he died the university medical school arranged to have his body picked up by a local funeral home and about a year and a half later his cremated remains were returned to the family for burial...all without cost.

[Patriot Babe]

I agree first when my mother passed away the funeral wanted $5.000.00 up front then they try to sell us more stuff which we said no. Her total cost was like $10,000.00. Then when my father died they wanted again $5,000.00 up front then another $5,000.00. Thank God he had a life insurance policy he got from his work because we used it all for his burial.
This is insane that these funeral places are jacking up prices on all of us making it difficult to bury our love ones. I don’t see the Democrap shouting out that poor people are being enfranchised.

Bill Cosby had his son buried on his estate and Andy Griffith is buried on his estate. I thought it was against the law to bury on a private property.

[ZinGirl]

if only. when my mother-in-law passed away, my stepfather-in-law was flabbergasted at cremation prices. geez. still needed to buy a coffin. dems da rules. fine...he goes flipping to the back of the book for the cheapest one. we loved her dearly (and miss the heck out of her still), but a bargain-shopper she was for her whole life. crikey....she would have come back from the dead and walloped us if we paid for a fancy coffin which was just going to burn. it’s a crock, anyway.

[Patriot Babe]

All this remind me of this funny episode from Married with Children:

Bundy Family Barbecue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inubkn_TmUs

[Patriot Babe]

All this remind me of this funny episode from Married with Children:

Bundy Family Barbecue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inubkn_TmUs

[Rusty0604]

But social security pays out $250 for death expenses, doesn’t that cover it?
The guy probably worked and paid into the SS system and then dies before he collected anything. So the gov’t gets to keep the money, prolonging the ponzi scheme and enabeling more redistribution.

[Albion Wilde]

Yep. The industry-big government alliance still needs to get their cut. Still the average cremation is $1500 to $2000, still WAY less than the average funeral cost, especially when you add the costs of vaults, plots, etc.

I drove each of my cats' remains in their baskets to a local crematory (several years apart) and paid $100 apiece, but was subjected to the $200 sales pitch from the veterinarian for pick up and delivery of the body, etc. But then, I live in a populous region with options. Still, I don't think one could put Grandpa's fresh remains in the back of the SUV and drop him off at the crematorium to save money. I have read about cardboard coffins, though, dirt cheap.

[Average Al]

I believe most of this is covered by state law. I noticed in NC there is a firm that covers the whole cremation including picking up the body and paperwork for around $800.00.

[Albion Wilde]

I thought it was against the law to bury on a private property.

There are probably regulations that allow it if the acreage is above a certain amount and the depth of the grave, the liner, the marker and the tax bite meet certain requirements.

[OldNavyVet]

Desperate people do desperate things.

It's touching in this case.

[goodnesswins]

"but cremation usually still requires you buy a coffin. go figure."

HA....you can get a cardboard coffin for "viewing" if YOU ASK...(A family member did this)

[sauropod]

Can you explain further how cremation contradicts the law of God?

Thanks, ‘Pod.

[ExNewsExSpook]

Usually requires a variance in the local zoning laws, which can be arranged; of course. It’s easier if you’re a celebrity and live in areas where zoning laws are lax to begin with (that is certainly the case in much of NC)

As I recall, Mr Griffith was buried on the day be died,’without being embalmed.