Welcome to the two-hundred-and-twenty-fourth edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #224, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!
Not a new idea
People love their vehicles — some to the point of obsession. For example, one Tesla owner, who is a member of the Tesla Cybertruck Owners Facebook group, wants to take his truck to the grave — or, to be more precise, to make it his grave. Ron Burke writes, “I’m in my upper 60s. I bought a new 2025 Cybertruck. After stripping the truck of biohazards such as tires and the battery, I plan to be buried in it in a double-wide, double-long burial plot. The shell would last centuries longer than high-end caskets.” Great idea, but Ron could save a lot of money on cemetery space if someone could just tell him about Titan’s Hypercasket …
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More IDs
As of last week, nine of the 24 bodies discovered in a hidden room at Davis Mortuary in Pueblo, Colorado in October have been identified as individuals who died between 2010 and 2012 and were supposed to have been cremated. Efforts continue to identify the other 15 individuals — many of whose remains had been reduced to bones and bits of tissue. Authorities hope to use forensic genealogy to match the DNA of these victims with relatives who have submitted their DNA to public databases.
Not a hero
Within the next month or so, the body of a Vietnam veteran who died in 1984 will be exhumed from his grave at Sam Houston National Cemetery in Texas thanks to the National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently signed into law. Fernando Cota was a convicted rapist and was the prime suspect in the murders of six women when he committed suicide after being stopped by police. The son of one of Cota’s alleged victims asked lawmakers to disinter Cota based on the new law, which prohibits individuals who were convicted of violent crimes from being buried in a veterans cemetery. “Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery is a sacred resting place for more than 170,000 respected veterans and their loved ones, and it would be a slap in the face to each one of them to allow Fernando Cota, a convicted rapist and alleged serial murderer, to remain buried amongst such heroes,” said Sen. John Cornyn, who co-sponsored the bill.
An inspirational list
Good Housekeeping magazine recently shared its list of “20 Unique Bereavement Gifts to Show Your Sympathy After Loss” — and IMHO they did a really great job gathering ideas that are outside of the expected “flowers and memorial tree” box (although the list actually does include flowers and memorial trees, but bougier versions). You might even recognize a few options that have already connected with deathcare professionals, like the Spoonful of Comfort gift box company, which became affiliated with Tribute Technology in 2023 as an exclusive partner.
Get your popcorn ready
We know you’ve been on pins and needles waiting for the next film or documentary about deathcare to drop, so with no further ado, here’s the brand new trailer for your next obsession (or worst nightmare) — the film adaptation of The Mortuary Assistant video game.
