The badly decomposed bodies of 11 infants were found in the ceiling of a former funeral home on Detroit's east side, Detroit police said. The remains were found late Friday afternoon by state investigators just hours after they received an anonymous letter explaining how to find the bodies carefully hidden inside the false ceiling, Detroit police said. The bodies had been hidden inside the former Cantrell Funeral Home at 10400 Mack Avenue at Garland, about 10 blocks east of the Indian Village neighborhood. The funeral home was closed by state authorities in April after they found numerous violations of state law. ... Overall, state officials had charged the operators of Cantrell Funeral Home with "fraud, deceit, dishonesty, incompetence, and gross negligence in the practice of mortuary science," according to a report issued in April about the decision to close the business.
From the 2016 death notice of Raymond Cantrell, here:
Raymond Cantrell Sr., Founder of Cantrell Funeral Home, one of the largest Black-owned Funeral Homes in Detroit, Michigan. Born July 19, 1920, Raymond is a native of Georgia (Douglas County) born into a family with 5 other siblings. Raymond attended and graduated from the Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta GA. He received a scholarship to Morehouse College (Atlanta) to study medicine and remained there for two years. ...
During the early 1950s Raymond had seen a need for additional choices in funeral homes in the Detroit eastside community. On completion of his Mortuary Science Degree (Department of Mortuary Science Wayne State University - Class of 1952) he soon established himself as a provider of compassionate yet personal funeral services. Armed with a morticians license Raymond freelanced intermittently working for the Diggs and Anderson Funeral Homes while concurrently maintaining his relief-man position at Ford Motor Company (5 days a week) and operating Ray’s Barber shop (6 days a week).
With some capital to his name in the early 50s, Raymond purchased property on Detroit’s Eastside (Montclair and Kercheval).
Raymond’s unique approach to funeral service provision and caring attention in meeting each grieving family’s unique needs stimulated and increased demand for his services. After a few years together with an enviable professional reputation, demand for ‘Cantrell’s’ funeral service provision was at a growing and sustainable level and Raymond resigned from his position at the Ford Motor Company and closed his barbershop business to focus on his funeral home.
Cantrell Funeral Home relocated to substantially larger premises at 10400 Mack Avenue (its current location) on January 1st, 1964. The move to larger premises enhanced Raymond’s position as a provider of compassionate and dignified funeral services and strengthened his goal to provide families ‘a personalized funeral service while meeting their unique financial needs. ...
Visitation: Saturday, November 5, 2016 From 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm & Sunday, November 6, 2016 From 10:00 am - 3:00 pm; Cantrell Funeral Home, Inc., 10400 Mack Ave., Detroit, MI 48214
