Staci Kent
Photo courtesy of 5th Judicial District Attorney
Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent and Staci Kent, his wife and deputy coroner, were arrested Thursday in Leadville after law enforcement found a deceased person in a coffin at their former Kent-Bailey Funeral Home in Silverthorne.
Each is now charged with attempted tampering with a deceased human body, a class 4 felony, the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Friday evening.
Authorities said they believe the deceased body had been in the Silverthorne location, at 561 Blue River Parkway, for several months. Bond is set at $10,000 and the Kents are scheduled to appear in court on March 9.
Summit County Sheriff's OfficeChantal Reh never got to know her daughter Christie, who had been diagnosed in the womb with Turner’s Syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder, and was stillborn.Nearly three years later, Reh still doesn’t know if Christie’s ashes, which she keeps at home in a small urn, are actually Christie’s.Shortly after she delivered her baby at a Colorado hospital in August 2018, Reh says she was given a list of funeral homes in the area that would cremate such a small body. The only ones willing to provide the service were owned by a local couple, Shannon and Staci Kent. There was no reason for doubt—after all, Shannon Kent had been appointed Lake County coroner in 2012. He was subsequently elected to a four-year term in 2014, and re-elected in 2018. Chantal Reh never got to know her daughter, Christie. Chantal Reh However, on Thursday, Colorado police arrested Shannon and Staci Kent after finding a decaying corpse in a funeral h
Lake County coroner, wife arrested on charges of tampering with a dead body
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and last updated 2021-02-20 00:57:59-05
SILVERTHORNE, Colo. â The Lake County coroner and his wife have been arrested on charges of tampering a deceased body, officials announced on Friday.
Coroner Shannon Lee Kent and Staci Kent were arrested shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday in Leadville, according to the Silverthorne Police Department.
Investigators had found a dead body in a coffin at the Bailey-Kent Funeral Homes in Silverthorne and suspected that the body had been there for a number of months.
The Park County coroner s office on Friday identified the victim as Victor Akubuo, 42, of California. Akubuo had died in a semi-truck crash in Park County in July, and his body was taken to the Kents funeral home in August.
Police: Body left in coffin at former Silverthorne funeral home for months aspentimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aspentimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SPD said it is currently under new ownership and management by Colorado Funeral Homes.
Credit: Summit County Sheriff s Office
Shannon and Staci Kent
The former Lake County deputy coroner, according to the affidavit, had planned to buy the business earlier from the Kents but reported that he saw red flags and backed out of the deal.
Officers contacted the prior deputy coroner, who said he had seen an infant in a casket in a two-door freezer at the Leadville Funeral Home, owned by the Kents. He had planned to buy that property as well as the Silverthorne property, the affidavit says. He recalled seeing the infant about four weeks ago , the affidavit says, and investigators believe it is the same unidentified infant seen when a search warrant was executed at the property by LCSO in October 2020.