Woman finds human fetus, cremated remains in storage unit

An Alabama woman said she was taken aback to make a grisly discovery inside a storage unit she got at an auction — a human fetus and cremated remains.

Rebekah McManus, 35, of Silverhill, was initially thrilled when she won a funeral home’s former storage unit for $30 at an aucti☂on in August.

“Ever since ‘Storage Wars’ became a thing, it’s always been on my bucket list [to buy𓄧 a unit],” she told൩ The Post Wednesday.

When McManus went to pick up her winnings, the U-haul manager told her the same owner had another unit that had not been retrieved, and offered to let her take that one for ♏free.

McManus and her husband brought both units home a few days later. Their initial discoveries were innocuous: The first unit was stuffed with se🃏veral decades of paperwork.

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But McManus said when they opened the second unit, they discovered a heavy gray tote. Inside, they found 13 creꦰmated hﷺuman remains.

“All the urn boxes were piled in there,” McM🌳anus said.

“My husband was like, ‘What is that?,’ and I said, ‘That’s human re🤪m💧ains.’”

McManus’ first thought was to return the remains to their loved ones. When she went to wr𒊎ite down the names on the urns a few days later, however💙, she was interrupted by a second, grislier discovery.

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“That’s when I found the fetus,” she said. 

Unlike the cremains, the𒐪 fetus was in a clear jar originally intended for autopsy sutures.

“I freaked out a l🐎ittle,” McManus 💎admitted. “I wasn’t prepared for that.”

While disturbed by the find, McManus was ini💞tially hesitant to contact law enforcement.

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“I wasn’t sure if I was going to get in trouble with the remains or not, for having them, so I wanted to make sure I reached out to thoཧse families first,” she explained.

It was a month before she called the police about the fetus, which was eventually collected by the Robertsdale Police Department. The department iᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs investigating the remains to rule out foul play.

“It was definitely not something we expected to deal with,” Lt. Pa✃ul Overstreet . ℱ;

“It was hard to believe what 💞we were being told and obviously later, what we saw.༒”

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While the investigation is on🏅going, McManus is staying busy by tracking down the families of the abandoned cremains. Of the 13 urns, she only has five families lef💫t to contact.

“The first two families, it was a missed communication. They thou𝔉ght someone else had picked [the ashes] up,” McManus said. 

Cassandra Jones, on the other ha𝕴nd, thought🍸 her husband’s remains were buried shortly after he died in 2015. 

“He should have been buried and was not. She was very emotional abou𓃲t it,” McManus said.

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Jones said the realization was “devastating”

“It just seems like💞 I’m reliving this all over again,” Jones .

The family of the most recent decedent, who died in 2019, had been looking for their loved one’s ashes for two years an𝄹d was “extremely up𒐪set,” McManus recalled.

Although McManus knows the identity of the units’ former owner, she did n꧙ot identify them and has not contacted them.

“I don’t want any legal recourse coming back ꦚat me because of it,” she said.

“Technically, funeral directors can dispose of remains however they see fit, as long as it’s ‘humane’ and ♕‘dignified.’ So maybe, instead of throwing the remains away, they put them in a storage unit.”

 on Tuesday, Charles Perine, executive director of th𓃲e Alabama Board of Funeral Service, said the agency would investigate the incident if families of the cremated individuals filed complaints.

“That business is no longer in business, and the individual at this time i♔s no longer licensed by the state, so♔ we are waiting to hear from the families,” he clarified.

For McManus, the past several weeks have been “a roller coaster𝐆.” The only truly negative thing to come out of the situation, she said, is that her current storage facility is evicting her🐬.

“They are kicking m𝓀e out because of attention I am bringing them, even though I haven’t breached my contract,” she complained.

When asked if she would ꦦconsider buying a mystery unit again, McManus said she would, with one caveat.

“I would, but I’m totally prepare🐎d for it to be boring,” she said.

“There’s ♎nothin𓄧g that I wouldn’t expect to find in there now.”