Posted on 06/21/2013 7:33:40 AM PDT by JoeProBono
APPLE VALLEY Calif- Unable to pay for a funeral, an Apple Valley woman reportedly told sheriff's deputies she was forced to bury her husband in a shallow grave in the couple's backyard weeks after the man died, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials. Investigators are trying to determine if the man died of natural causes.
The identity of the deceased man has not been released. The woman has also not been identified but neighbors and San Bernardino County property records show they are Thomas and Yvonne Winn.
"She's a really nice lady," said Colin Wilson who lives behind the Winns. "She would always wave to me every morning."
Apple Valley deputies were called out to a home in the 16000 block of Navajo Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday for a welfare check on a 63-year-old man, according to authorities.
At the home, deputies found the man's 59-year-old wife who told deputies her husband, who has not been identified, had died weeks earlier, according to sheriff's officials. Unable to pay for a funeral, she reportedly told officials she buried him in the backyard.
"I saw her kneel down near where the cops started digging and she just broke down," Wilson said. "She was obviously devastated."
The man's body was found in a shallow grave and his body did not appear to have any obvious signs of trauma, sheriff's officials said.
The woman was not arrested pending a cause of death ruling from the coroner, according to Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the sheriff's department.
Neighbors said the 63-year-old man had been ill for some time.
Touched by the woman's situation, Wilson and his sister, Emily Wilson, decided to set up an online fundraising account through Fundrazr.com where people can donate to help bury the woman's husband.
"I just feel terrible for her," he said. "I can't imagine what she went through."
In the first hour, the online fundraising effort had already raised $120.
Phyllis Jerscheid, owner of Jerschied's Men's Apparel in Victorville, said she would donate a suit to the Winns so he could be buried.
"This story just broke my heart,"Jerscheid said from her busy store on Hesperia Road. "I wanted to help in some small way."
The couple had recently purchased the home in November but moved in early this year, said Wilson, after some repairs had been made to the property.
"She was out there almost every day painting and fixing up that house all by herself," Wilson said. "She's a really strong lady."
A day after their neighborhood was overtaken by sheriff's investigators, news vans now lined Navajo Road.
"It's really weird to think that she was able to do this and no one saw anything," said Wilson as he stood in his back yard which faced the rear of the couple's home. "We all have chain link fences here and we can see right into each others back yards. I can't believe no one saw anything."
It's a violation of the state's health and safety code to bury a human body anywhere other than an approved and recognized cemetery.
To donate, visit, www.fundrazr.com and search Thomas Winn.
In Connecticut, you can’t even bury your pet in your yard, any longer.
If you can afford a house, you can afford a cremation. Maybe the reasoning is her and her husband had something against that. I feel bad for her either way. A loved one’s death can affect people in different ways.
I got five from the town clerk when my wife died; additional notarized copies were $2/ea. Thd problem was, town hall was open 9:00-4:00 and no weekend hours. I thought I had all I needed and some places would take photocopies. I needed one more official, stamped copy and decided it wasn’t worth it to take time off work to get one more certificate.
I took a photocopy, a US silver eagle coin and a rolling pin. Voila, an official copy! It worked just fine
I agree with your second statement; but, I (not being a Bible scholar) have no knowledge of a scriptural ban on cremation. Can you help me with that?
When my mother passed away recently the cost of “direct cremation” (no embalming, no casket, no viewing, no service), still came to over $2500 after they tallied up all the necessary items. She would have been irate.
How would they know?
hmmm...was this question asked by the same person who ended up NEEDING a coffin? hahaha
this was in New Jersey. 'nuff said?
Question is. . .who are going to be the Sandmen ??
Cremated you lack the nasty pathogens that a dead human body gives off.
I read a story about someone that had died out of state. It was so expensive to ship the body home on an airline via the out of state funeral homes that the folks propped him up in the car and just drove him home for a funeral.
Right next to the hamster and the goldfish perhaps?
That’s what the neighbor’s yard is for.
While I’m sorry for her loss, there is another reason to bury a body in the backyard - and that’s to keep the checks coming in.
So apparently God is not big enough to put the body back together? If you can point to a Scripture, I’ll go along with you. Tradition doesn’t count.
Oh, and what about someone who dies a few hundred years ago, their body is dust. You might want to take a look at Genesis 3:19
When my dad died my mom couldn’t afford to pay for a funeral so my brother and I did. Cut rate and in an out of town cemetery.....$5k. My mom died 4 yrs ago and we pd to bury her. Same everything as my dad $5300.
People on limited incomes do NOT have that kind of money!
Again, look up at the defense for cremation a bit higher up in the thread.
“The spirit is everything. The body is nothing”. This is contrary to what Paul teaches. The body is important. If the body will be resurrected, then we have a duty to preserve the body. If the body is nothing, then cremate away.
“Can you explain further how cremation contradicts the law of God?”
I did my best to find scripture prohibiting cremation before originally asking that, could only find something externally explanatory to the effect that Saul and his sons had been cremated because the Philistines had defiled their bodies. I also remember that the Israelites burned the bodies of defeated peoples in Canaan.
I cannot agree that God prohibits cremation. I’m willing to believe it if anyone can provide a scriptural reference other than “Christian teachings”.
I’m not sure if the meddling idiot lawyers in Raleigh have changed the rules, but a few years back I asked a local funeral director if we could be buried on our property. We are out in the country and have several acres.
“No problem!”
Do we need a vault?
“Nope.”
Special casket?
“Nope.”
Pine box OK?
“Yep.”
Hmmmmm.... Would a cardboard box and a little lime do?
“Sure, if you want to get fancy.”
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