The number of bodies going unclaimed in Sarasota County has almost doubled in the last 10 years, officials say.

In 2013-2014, Sarasota County received 40 unclaimed bodies from the medical examiner office for District 12, which serves Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Though 2020 was an outlier year due to the pandemic, the rates have continued to steadily rise. In 2023, 70 bodies went unclaimed. 

According to the the district’s medical examiner, Dr. Russell Vega, there are a number of reasons that a body may remain unclaimed, including inability to find a next of kin; an inability to identify, which is very rare; or refusal by family to receive the remains.

“Sometimes folks choose not to claim the body—maybe because it’s a very distant relative, and they feel they don’t have a relationship with them, or they lack the financial means to do so,” says Vega. “Sometimes they have the relationship and the means, but they’ve had a strained relationship [with the person] during life, so they have no desire to claim them.”

“The most significant reason bodies might be unclaimed, from our perspective, is because they’re unidentified," he continues. "If we don’t know who they are, then we can’t determine who would be the most appropriate person to claim that body."

Traditionally, the medical examiner's office will conduct its own investigation to attempt to locate the next of kin—a process that can “drag on for however long it takes—years, even—to identify those bodies,” said Vega. Typically, however, it only takes a few days to a couple of weeks.

Once a positive identification is made, the next of kin is asked if they would like to claim the remains. If they decline, or no next of kin is found, the county do its own search. The case gets labeled as unclaimed if no next of kin steps forward or is located. 

From 2013 to 2022, the most recent population data available, Sarasota County’s population increased by 18.5 percent, according to the Census Bureau, while the rate of unclaimed bodies increased by 75 percent.

“It’s fair to say that all the work in the death care industry is going to be largely population driven,” Vega says. “[But] it sounds like there’s other factors at play.”

According to the National Funeral Directors Association, from 2016 to 2023 the cost for a funeral with burial and viewing has risen 17 percent, with the national average at $8,300, and $9,995 with a vault, as many cemeteries require. During the same period, inflation rose by 26.7 percent, according to Labor Department data.

“We’ve had a number of cases where we know that the families have the financial wherewithal to claim and dispose of remains, and choose not to do so,” says Vega, “It’s clear in some cases that financial difficulties play a role, but I’m not sure it’s the dominant factor here.”

In an increasing number of instances, investigators have to find an extended relationship to claim and arrange for funeral services.

“The next option is to find someone who is willing and able to claim and arrange final disposition of the body, even if they aren’t a relative,” Vega explains. “Sometimes this is a friend, or a roommate, and we attempt to locate these individuals to the best of our abilities.”

And while it may offer a more cost-effective option for some, the cost of cremation has also gone up 19.3 percent in the same period. Sarasota County has cremated individuals in its indigent cremation program starting in 2007. A key aspect of this process is ensuring that next of kin are provided the opportunity to pick up remains before they are sent to the county funeral home for cremation. 

“The growth in population, the relative cost of cremation versus burial, the available areas that the county has to bury bodies being quite limited—all of these factors probably play a role in this shift of handling unclaimed bodies with cremation as opposed to burial,” Vega says.

Catherine Hicks is a reporter for the Community News Collaborative.