A Panguitch man, who told police he’d promised his mother a “green burial” when she died, pleaded guilty Thursday to instead placing her body in a coal bin at their home.
Pete Marker, 66, entered a guilty plea to abuse or desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, in 6th District Court. As part of a plea agreement, a charge of failing to report a dead human body, a class B misdemeanor, was dismissed.
Judge Marvin Bagley gave Marker credit for time served since his Jan. 10 arrest, and sentenced him to two years probation. The judge also suspended a $9,533 fine.
Marker was arrested after he sent his niece a letter saying her 90-year-old grandmother (his mother) died at the home he shared with her on Christmas night, charges state. In the letter, Marker told his niece he’d “taken care of the body.”
After his arrest, Marker told police he’d promised his mother a green burial, which involves neither cremation nor embalming fluids, according to funerals.org.
In green burials, the body is placed in a biodegradable coffin or shroud and interred without a concrete burial vault. The goal is complete decomposition of the body and its natural return to the soil, the website says.
This type of burial is not allowed in most commercial cemeteries in Utah, according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Utah, but some rural cemeteries may allow it. Local ordinances also govern whether burials are permitted on rural private properties.
During a police interview, Marker told officers that he’d gone into the mountains to scout out a spot to bury his mother, but there were elk hunters in the area, and “he did not dare bury her with all the people around,” charges said.
He admitted knowing it is illegal to bury someone in the hills, according to charges, and said he had considered notifying the sheriff’s office, but didn’t.
He told police he wrapped her body in bedding before burying her under a pile of coal in the basement of their home, charges said.
Police found her body there, as described by Marker, charges state. The body was removed and taken to a mortuary, charges said.
Initially, police said they could not rule out foul play in the death, but Marker’s charges did not include anything indicative of other crimes.