Franklin Park Funeral Home Is Dark And Deserted; Woman Wants Grandmother's Remains

FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A suburban funeral home has gone dark – there is nobody there, and the phone line is disconnected.

As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, at least one family has waited for months for their loved one's cremated remains, and can't get any answers.

The grounds of the Cuneo-Columbian Funeral Home, at 10300 Grand Ave. in Franklin Park, have not been plowed. There was no one inside Friday.

But Michelle Scotti said she wants what's hers.

"I trusted this woman to cremate my grandmother and give her her last wishes," Scotti said.

Scotti's grandmother, Mary Bauer, died last October after a stroke.

Her cremated remains were supposed to rest in a cabinet Scotti had set aside, "with her rosary and next to her picture."

The staff at Cuneo-Columbian Funeral Home is who Scotti trusted to carry out her grandmother's arrangements. Before her death, Bauer even took care of the nearly $2,500 bill for an engraved urn.

"Where is my grandmother? Where is she?" Scotti said. "Why can't you just give her to me?"

Four months later, the cremains are nowhere to be found – and the funeral home is locked and empty.

On the door is a handwritten sign saying reading: "Please call for appt. Temporarily we are not here."

But that turns out not to be an option either

"The phone number's been disconnected, so I can't even call anymore," Scotti said.

Not only did she lose her grandmother, Scotti now can't get a straight answer – or any answer at all.

"You have my grandmother," she said. "And if you're going out of business, that's fine. But give me her remains.

We did stop by the funeral home owner's home and called, but had not gotten a response as of Friday evening. Online there are others who echo the same complaints Scotti had.

Scotti filed a police report on Thursday.