Show Relatives grief compounded by loss of bodies David Nicholas Riccardi Los Angeles Times When he finally could guarding a leave his post plant after nuclear power Hurricane Katrina struck III Richard George flooded home of ol sped to the father east of his year old New Orleans Slogging through the mUc muck he found his fathers father's corpse face face- down in the hallway As devastating as that discovery discovery dis discovery dis- dis was at least Rey sack covery had his fathers father's remains that was taken Then even authorities who away The moved the corpse to a tem tem- morgue not only wont won't return it to for burial he said but they wont won't even confirm that they have it family has published published published pub pub- an obituary and held a memorial service all without without without with with- out a body My family has had to endure that memorial service service service ser ser- ser ser- vice knowing that Lord knows when well we'll get my fathers father's body and put this behind us said A month after Katrina upended the lives of hundreds hundreds hundreds hun hun- of thousands here families of the dead have been traumatized yet again by the ordeal of trying to pry loved ones' ones bodies from a bureaucratic quagmire They say they have spent weeks being rebuffed or ignored by state and federal officials ata at ata ata a massive temporary morgue that houses hundreds of decomposed bodies Many of those bodies are unidentified But authorities have been provided with ample information to identify identify identify fy dozens of corpses that they continue to hold to the dismay of family member scattered across the country The state official in charge of the morgue Dr Louis Cataldie said through a Relatives Grief Cont Cant on Page 4 oJ Relatives Grief Cont from front spokesman that he was concerned concerned concerned con con- about the flow of information from the morgue At a news conference conference conference confer confer- ence here last week he acknowledged that many families were suffering These are horrible times Cataldie said Even funeral home directors directors directors tors who normally would retrieve bodies from authorities authorities authorities author author- say they have been turned away at the heavily guarded morgue in St. St Gabriel f 1 Among the Among the authorities refuse to rel release se are those of people people- who people who died before Katrina struck Aug 29 but were transferred transferred transferred trans trans- when floodwaters threatened the New Orleans morgue Its inefficient and inept out there its it's beyond incompetence said William Bagnell a funeral director who said he was refused access to four bodies bodies bodies bod bod- ies at the morgue even though officials had faxed him forms inviting him to pick up the bodies For funeral directors and ordinary citizens alike the grief of losing a relative has been compounded by the agonizing search for their remains Malcolm Gibson a New Orleans funeral director said he has tried for more than two weeks to recover the body of his year old uncle who died in his home during the storm and whose remains were delivered to the morgue by state police Authorities would not let him in to identify the body he said Earline Eleby Coleman drove from Houston Sept 5 to recover the body of her year old mother who died at the New Orleans convention center in the arms of another family member She was told to Nr I. I wai waif l JP at ign It IJ the bo body body- y was even at e. e mom morgue heis b is st still ll Wayne Dean Ryburn spent 10 days chasing his elderly mothers mother's corpse from hospitals to morgues to parish coroners coroner's offices He finally recovered it from froma a morgue in the Louisiana countryside with the help of his sister a registered nurse who had attended to the dying woman And Cal Johnson a New Orleans funeral director said he has faxed information information information tion to the morgue about an employee a year old ld embalmer who died in his New Orleans home during the storm But even though police took the body to the morgue Johnson said he was told that it could not not be located Im past the angry stage said who discovered his fathers father's body Sept 11 Its total loss and total frustration as if youve you've got your hands tied and th the answer is right there in front of you but you cant can't get it Cataldie a former fonner medical medical med med- ical examiner acknowledged acknowledged acknowledged edged that identifying and releasing bodies has been painfully slow Of the 78 bodies taken to the morgue he said just 32 have been identified positively and and another have been identified identified iden iden- tentatively Because many bodies decomposed in heat and nd floodwaters after being left uncollected Cataldie said some victims never will be identified and their cause of death never known Forensic specialists supervised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are taking X-rays X and fingerprints of the corpses but identifying bodies and notifying next- next of kin is being handled by state officials Their greatest fear is misidentifying a a corns corpse in the me deluge of bod- bod ies t r rI I wish I 1 could speed up p the But Bt process Cataldie sa said d. d speeding up the process could contaminate the Uie process and I 1 just cant can't do that |