Video: Lowndes County Unclaimed Body

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COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)–The remains of an Iowa man who died in Lowndes County will finally be laid to rest.

Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant went before the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors today [Monday] asking that they pick up the tab for the unclaimed body. Apparently the man died suddenly at work after being on the job for a day and a half. He was working his way to Missouri.

Merchant did not give a name of the man who is said to have abandoned his daughter 30 years ago. The search for the next of kin led to ties the deceased had in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Texas.

Law requires that the deceased be given a decent burial, in this case about 500 dollars is sufficient, for the county that’s not really in the funeral home business.

“Sometimes we hold these remains a little longer, but its that extra time gives us the leg to find someone and maybe locate someone that will take care of the responsibility that the family has,” said Greg Merchant/Lowndes County Coroner.

In the last 12 years Merchant has had to deal with four similar situations involving unclaimed remains.