After a case 2News Investigates reported on last week involving a mix-up of a body during a funeral that had occurred, we looked into who regulates the funeral
After a case 2News Investigates reported on last week involving a mix-up of a body during a funeral that had occurred, we looked into who regulates the funeral industry in Utah and how it fares.
Disciplinary actions against funeral homes and funeral directors in Utah are handled through the Division of Professional Licensing, which regulates the industry. We found most violations involve paperwork problems such as untimely filings or filing the wrong document, but some cases involve misconduct.
Utah veteran Dennis Hayden, whose military funeral in Willard on Oct. 2, 2021, raised immediate concerns for his family after the honorary flag was folded and presented to his oldest son.
“This one has wood, you know wood grain in it — and ours was a metal casket,” said Kelly Hayden, Hayden’s son. The family soon received a call from an employee of Myers Mortuary in Brigham City, where the family had entered into a contractual agreement for services.
“It was horrible,” Kelly Hayden said. Walter Mason, the Hayden family’s attorney, filed a civil lawsuit in Second Judicial District Court against Myers Mortuary in 2025 alleging negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and recklessness seeking a jury trial with damages to be determined at trial.
"Dennis Hayden was a father, a grandfather, and an Air Force veteran who deserved to be laid to rest with dignity and the military honors he earned. We entrust funeral professionals with a sacred duty to protect these final rites. As we have alleged in our lawsuit, Myers Mortuary betrayed that trust.
""This lawsuit is not merely about holding one facility accountable for the profound harms alleged in our complaint. It is about demanding transparency, enforcing basic standards of decency in the funeral industry, and ensuring that no other family ever has to question who is inside the casket at their loved one's funeral.
" The Hayden family did not file a complaint against Myers Mortuary with DOPL. Adam Watson, one of the directors for the Division of Professional Licensing, said neither he nor investigators who handle these cases were aware of it until 2News Investigates brought it to their attention.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of that and the investigators that look into these types of cases hadn’t heard of that either,” Watson said. Myers Mortuary President Shaun Myers at first declined to comment citing the pending litigation but later issued the following statement to 2News Investigates: "I am at present precluded from commenting about the merits of pending litigation.
However, I can say that several years ago a deeply painful occurrence happened during the care of a family we were serving. The family was immediately notified. No family should ever experience that kind of hurt during such a sacred moment and I remain profoundly sorry that it happened. Following that event, we made immediate changes to our identification and verification procedures, and a staff member involved in that incident is no longer employed here.
For generations, families have placed their trust in us during the most difficult days of their lives. While nothing can undo the pain caused to the family we were serving during that past occurrence, we continue every day to work diligently to be worthy of that sacred trust.
" Another case involved Jason Starks, a funeral director at Starks Funeral Parlor, who sought early termination of his probation from the Utah Board of Funeral Service last August. 2News Investigates obtained multiple audio recordings in this case from DOPL and the Division of Archives and Records Service. “In hindsight I would have handled it a much different way knowing what the repercussion would have been,” Starks said on the recording.
According to the DOPL investigation, on May 23, 2020, Starks Funeral Parlor employee Arron Miller dug up a bag containing eight pounds of human organs — the medical term viscera — while maintaining a flower bed on the funeral parlor property. According to the Unified Police report the organs were later identified as portions of liver, heart, lung and bowel that had been removed during a formal autopsy.
According to the Division of Professional Licensing findings of fact and conclusions of law, Miller told owners Jason and Shayneh Starks 90 minutes later, the document says. The documentation shows, Shayneh Starks testified that she called Dr. Erik Christensen, the chief medical examiner, but he did not answer, so she left him a message. She further testified she did not call police or 911.
The DOPL report shows Christensen responded to Starks Funeral Parlor the next day, inspected the remains and took them. According to his testimony, cited in the DOPL documentation, he then called Unified Police and spoke with Officer Chad Sorenson immediately after meeting with the Starks. Sorenson began a criminal investigation.
In that same documentation, Christensen testified that he identified the remains and matched them with the assistance of the Utah State Crime Lab using DNA comparison as belonging to a deceased woman who had been transported by Starks Funeral Parlor on April 9, 2020. Jason Starks, the primary embalmer, testified in the DOPL hearing that Arron Miller brought the body to the prep room on the table.
After the embalming process, Starks testified he could not get the viscera to fit back in the cavity, so he told Miller to put them in a box inside the casket but did not verify Miller had done that. Another employee testified Miller was acting “unusually” about the viscera and dug up the viscera on his first and only hole in the flower bed. The board noted that Miller’s testimony as a division witness was found not to be credible.
According to the Unified Police criminal investigation documentation, Miller was interviewed by Officer Sorenson at a later date and confirmed that he picked up the decedent from the Office of the Medical Examiner on April 9, 2020 and brought her back to Starks Funeral Parlor. According to that same documentation, Miller stated that he placed her on the table in the embalming room and had no further interaction with the body after that time.
Later in the UPD criminal investigation, Miller was given immunity from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office prior to making a statement on July 21, 2020. DOPL concluded: “It does not matter how the viscera got into that hole. That fact that it happened shows Jason Starks failed to supervise the proper disposal and burial of human remains. This should have never happened.
” Division of Professional Licensing findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding viscera found at Starks Funeral Parlor in 2020. In weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the Funeral Service Board wrote in its findings of fact and conclusions of law, “Jason Starks had a dishonest or selfish motive in his actions. Jason Starks did not call the police but called Dr. Christensen and has fought to keep the matter as quiet as possible.
” Division of Professional Licensing findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding viscera found at Starks Funeral Parlor in 2020 in disciplinary case On mitigating circumstances, the document stated, “The Board considered Jason Starks’s remorse. Jason Starks and Shayneh Starks addressed their grief and remorse about the incident, however, it was tinged with all their efforts to keep the matter quiet. But given all this, Jason Starks was found to be legitimately remorseful.
” Shayneh Starks testified that the viscera was buried by another funeral home at their expense.
“A statue of the Holy Virgin was placed at the decedent’s grave, and a settlement offer was made in efforts to keep the matter quiet,” according to the document. According to DOPL’s order of adjudication, Jason Starks’s funeral director license was suspended for three months on Aug. 31, 2023, and he was placed on probation for three years.
He was ordered to complete nine hours of funeral director ethics and 10 hours of business ethics, and to supply DOPL embalming reports for every embalming at Starks Funeral Parlor for the duration of his probation. He was also ordered to report to the board during four separate board meetings during probation “to render account of the embalming reports or any other matter that the Board deems necessary to ensure the Utah public is being protected and served within the ethical standards of the profession.
”“We donated a memorial at the funeral home uh, in memory of that awful situation. They came and we had a local priest come and offer a dedication of, of the statue of the Immaculate Conception,” Starks said on the audio recording. On Aug. 20, 2025, Starks appeared before the Utah Board of Funeral Service for a probation review and the audio recording obtained by 2News Investigates reveals he asked for his probation to be terminated early.
It was noted he completed all probation requirements and had been fully compliant with the probation conditions. The board voted unanimously to approve his request, effective Aug. 31, 2025. Starks also said, “I had some bad advice from an attorney to not accept responsibility but in hindsight I should have even though I had nothing to do with it. ” 2News Investigates reached out to Starks Funeral Parlor seeking comment for this report, but it was declined.
Multiple attempts by phone and email to reach former employee Arron Miller for comment were not returned. Miller is now a licensed funeral director. Watson said the division has opened 40 cases since 2023 and has 11 investigators, with two to three dedicated to the funeral industry. When asked about stories involving body mix-ups and mishandling of corpses, Watson said, “It is a terrible thing.
” Watson said families can reduce the risk of a mix-up by treating the initial visit like an interview and asking detailed questions about tracking and verification, including: “How do you track my loved one? Are you using a digital tracker? Are you using a physical tracker? Is there any tracking going on at all and if there’s not that’s a red flag.
” He also encouraged families to ask about physical verification, including whether a family member or representative can verify their loved one before a casket is closed for the last time or before cremation. He said families should listen closely to the answers.
“If you’re getting a defensive answer, an evasive answer, a non-answer, those are all red flags. And you as a consumer can walk away,” Watson said. Consumers can verify a funeral home or funeral director license and check for disciplinary action through the Division of Professional Licensing website at dopl.utah.gov. A crash involving multiple semi-trucks and a passenger car forced a full closure of Highway 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon.
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