Dead girl's body remains in storage; will not be released to custodial dad (Bryan County, Oklahoma)

We've reported on custodial dad ABEL WOLF and this admittedly rather odd story several times over the past year. I have yet to see any explanation as to how this child ended up in the custody of her father and the step. None.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.

http://newsok.com/cheyenne-wolfs-body-remains-in-storage-at-medical-examiners-office/article/3496468

Cheyenne Wolf's body remains in storage at medical examiner's office
Space a problem for morgue, which is holding dozens of unclaimed bodies

BY SONYA COLBERG Oklahoman
Published: September 18, 2010
Modified: September 19, 2010 at 12:55 am

Cheyenne Wolf's remains, allegedly carted across the country in plastic bins, will likely not be released to the father who stands charged with unlawful removal of her body and allowing child abuse.

Medical examiner's office spokeswoman The red-haired 12-year-old died in her Bokchito home of undetermined causes in April 2008, a day after her siblings say her stepmother strapped her in bed and whipped her with a belt, court records state.

The girl used leg braces and suffered from spina bifida, a birth defect. Her remains have been in the morgue a year.

Bryan County District Attorney Emily Redman said the medical examiner's office told her that the body would have to be released to custodial parent Abel Wolf, who told investigators he buried and dug up Cheyenne's body numerous times.

"Obviously, I have a problem with that," Redman said.

She said she is trying to get Wolf to sign over authority for funeral arrangements to Cheyenne's sisters, who are in Department of Human Services custody and say they want the responsibility.

Medical examiner's office spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said the staff is trying to work out what should be done with the girl's remains.

She said an incredible number of callers have expressed interest in what happens to the girl.

"It's been really overwhelming," she said. "People who didn't even know this child, it's just the thought of her being here and her life was tragic enough, it seems, and they want to be able to help."

Cheyenne's was one of 28 unclaimed remains in the medical examiner's office last week.

If efforts fail to get remains back to a family or are rejected, often because families can't or won't bear funeral costs, the body is turned over to the county in which the death happened or the person resided.

The county then cremates or buries the body.

"It's hard for us because we want to help the families but we just don't have the room sometimes to be able to keep them here for a long time," Ballard said.

This year, 18 sets of remains have been left unclaimed in the morgue. That's already more than triple the number left unclaimed in 2009.

Other states

The Maryland medical examiner's office is one of the country's only offices without the body storage problem, said David Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner and co-chairman of inspection and accreditation with the National Association of Medical Examiners.

Maryland state law requires that unclaimed remains from the medical examiner's office and hospitals go to the state anatomy board for medical research and then cremation or burial at no cost to families.

"I cannot for the life of me imagine why this isn't being emulated in multiple states," Fowler said, adding that Virginia is considering a similar practice.

"Otherwise you've got the medical examiner's office being saddled with these unclaimed bodies."

Fowler said most every state, like Oklahoma, retains small amounts of tissue on small slides and through other means that can be used later, particularly with unidentified remains. Oklahoma had four unidentified, unclaimed remains on hand last week.

Among the wide-ranging state laws governing the way medical examiner's offices handle unclaimed bodies, Washington State legally requires each funeral home to take care of unclaimed bodies for a flat fee set by the county, Fowler said.

New Mexico, Maryland and Arkansas medical examiner's offices said unclaimed remains can be an issue because of the space they take up.

The Arkansas medical examiner tries to work quickly to gather all evidence from the body and contact a county judge to order the county to pick up the body for cremation.

New Mexico's medical examiner is legally allowed, after a month, to send unclaimed bodies to the county for burial or cremation, but investigators typically spend years trying to locate families, operations director Amy Boule said.

In cases of bodies both unclaimed and unidentified, bits of DNA are saved and the remains eventually go to the National Museum of Anthropology for storage.

"We have some people who are pretty passionate about trying to get these people home," Boule said.

One body had been unidentified for 17 years and was sent to the museum. But when investigators hit on a DNA match, the museum returned her bones to her family.

Paying for storage

While the district attorney is trying to arrange to move Cheyenne Wolf's remains, a family is paying to keep their daughter's remains in the medical examiner's office.

On the anniversary of the release of an autopsy report ruling their daughter's death a homicide, Susan and David Deviney sent the Oklahoma medical examiner's office $200.

The check was for two years' storage fees for the office to keep the remains of their daughter Sheila Deviney.

She was found six years ago burned to death in her Maysville trailer home in south-central Oklahoma.

Her homicide case is still active, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Susan Deviney said the state hadn't asked for a storage fee until this year, the fifth year of storage.

"We were told if there's no movement on the homicide case, her remains would be destroyed. We got very, very upset," Deviney said.

Ballard said the office set the five-year time frame and state law allows the office to charge $100 per year for storage.

"When it comes to a human's life, it's like they don't care," Deviney said. "It's almost like they're saying, 'You've lost your puppy dog. Just go home and get a new puppy dog.' I can't have a new daughter."

But Ballard said the office gets 30,000 tissue samples every year and currently has 11,000 samples in storage.

"We don't want to add any burden or any more grief to families. We just don't have room to store samples forever," Ballard said.

Uncommon practice

Charging for storage is apparently not common. Several medical examiners' offices reacted with surprise when told that Oklahoma charges for body tissue storage.

Boule, of New Mexico, said the office doesn't charge families for items involving any cases under their jurisdiction.

"There's no charge to families for anything," Boule said.

Missouri and Arkansas medical examiners said the same.

"If we retain anything from the body for evidentiary purposes, that is incumbent on the crime laboratory to do that. We don't charge for those. As a matter of fact we don't charge any fees associated with the case," said Kermit Channell, Arkansas State Crime Laboratory director.

Fowler, the Maryland medical examiner who also represents the national association, said there may be a legitimate reason to try to recover costs but the onus for unsolved homicide tissues would rest with the state.

Oklahoma's charge to families, though, "I've never heard of that," Fowler said.

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