'Celebrate the lives': Coroner's office offers solution as unclaimed decedents left behind

At the very end, Carl Lineback was not alone. Neither were the 74 other people whose remains were left behind at the Marion County Coroner’s Office.

“For me, this is to honor their memory,” said Tiffany Walls. “You might know somebody for many years or a short time, but the time you spend with them, and the things you learn about them, impacts the rest of your life.”

Lineback’s remains had gone unclaimed by next of kin since he died in August 2021 at 66 years old. Walls met Lineback through her work at Tear Down The Walls Ministries, an organization that assists homeless people in Indianapolis.

She considered Lineback her friend.

“He was quite spunky,” Walls said. “He was just different and fun to be around. He was a little sarcastic and that grandpa-like figure."

Elliot Zans, of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention in Indianapolis, became close with William Bryant, who she met through work. Bryant died at 69 in May 2020, and was among the unclaimed decedents buried Thursday.

From last year: Alone in death: Hundreds of bodies unclaimed in Indiana. The stories of those left behind

Bryant went by Willie and was well-known and loved by advocates for homeless people in the city. He used to recommend classic rock and old jazz music to Zans, who still has his playlist saved on Spotify.

“This feels really good to see some acknowledgment that these folks were here, they mattered and they should be laid to rest and not eternally in limbo on a shelf,” Zans said.

Lineback, Bryant and the other unclaimed decedents, who died in 2020 and 2021, reached their final disposition Thursday. Volunteers and staff from the coroner’s office placed carnations on a white casket holding the cremated remains as the names of all 75 decedents were read aloud.

"It is our time to give them respect and dignity and lay them to rest in the best possible, respectful way,” said Alfie McGinty, Marion County chief deputy coroner. “While we may not have known who they were in life, we will respect who they are at death.”

For years, unclaimed decedents have been left behind at the coroner’s office. Last September, they buried the cremains of 173 unclaimed people who died between 2006 and 2019 in a ceremony at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens.

Marion County is not alone.

Unclaimed decedents can be found at coroner's offices, funeral homes and hospitals across Indiana. In some cases, the deceased are abandoned because of a family's financial problems or deteriorated relationships. Other times, grief plays a role.

Linda Znachko, founder of He Knows Your Name ministry, is familiar with the problem and had been working with the coroner’s office since 2020 to address it.

Now, she believes the coroner’s office in Marion County can serve as a model for respectfully taking care of unclaimed decedents.

The coroner’s office will bury unclaimed cremains each year at an annual event and now has written it into their procedures, which means the event will be part of their budget.

"They are leading the way not only in the state of Indiana but in our country for coming up with a solution,” Znachko said. “That's what I would like every coroner in our country to do and every funeral home. They too have these kinds of numbers of unclaimed."

Thursday's ceremony for the unclaimed decedents was recorded in case any family or friends come forward in the future. A headstone will be placed and a record of all the decedents buried in the white casket will be kept in at the coroner’s office and at Floral Park Cemetery, where the grave is located.

"Unclaimed decedents should no longer be left hidden anywhere,” Znachko said. “We need to bring it to light and celebrate the lives. We don't know them in life but we know their names. We are standing in honor of them today.”

For a full list of the unclaimed decedents from the Marion County Coroner’s Office who were buried at Thursday's event, see below:

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Marion County Coroner's Office honors 75 unclaimed decedents in burial