Cremation Testing - What Happened to Debbie Shem?

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Debbie Shem's ashes were returned to her by Megan Hess, the owner of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home. FBI victim specialist told Debbie she might want to bring those cremains into their outpost. Melissa Conner and her team tested 128 samples of remains returned to families from Sunset Mesa funeral home. They found bone in all but one case.

Debbie Schum waited a long time to receive the cremated ashes of her friend, LoraLee Johnson. When she did, she felt relieved to finally take them home with her. But then, she got a call from the FBI.

We first aired this episode in 2020. Earlier this month, Megan Hess and Shirley Koch were sentenced for their crimes. We've included updates about the case in this version of the episode.

To learn more, check out Elena Saavedra Buckley’s article, “‘None of this happened the way you think it did.’”

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