The Lake County coroner and his wife were arrested in Leadville on Thursday night after a body was discovered in their old funeral home. It was believed to have been there for a “number of months.”
Members of the Silverthorne Police Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office took Coroner Shannon Lee Kent and his wife, Staci, into custody at 8:35 p.m. Thursday on suspicion of tampering with a deceased human body, according to a released from SPD.
Shannon Kent is also being investigated for violating bond conditions.
Before the arrests, police found a human body in a coffin at the funeral home previously owned by the Kents at 561 Blue River Parkway in Silverthorne on Tuesday, according to a release from the SPD.
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.
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.