With felony charges filed, former Pocatello funeral home owner could face up to 227 years in prison
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POCATELLO — Newly filed court documents detail the 22 felony charges against the former owner of a funeral home where dozens of decaying remains, including human fetuses, were found.
Lance Robert Peck, 49, who once owned the now-demolished Downard Funeral Home, faces four counts of state income tax evasion, two counts of perjury, two counts of forging public records, two counts of computer fraud, seven counts of grand theft by deception and five counts of furnishing false information to the Department of Vital Statistics, court records show. If he’s convicted of all these charges, his sentence could be up to 227 years in prison.
EastIdahoNews.com requested further information from the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office regarding the charges. Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Herzog told us that his office is not able to comment on this case at this time.
RELATED | What we know about Downard Funeral Home, Lance Peck and what’s next in the case
Investigation launched following ISU complaint
Pocatello Police were made aware of possible fraudulent activity involving anatomical donations by representatives at Idaho State University on July 2, 2021, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
For years, Downard had been providing ISU with human remains for research and education.
One of the bodies that was provided to the university was shown to have been returned to Downard for cremation on April 7, 2017, the affidavit says. Those remains were never turned over to the family.
Two other families shared similar stories.
In a statement provided to EastIdahoNews.com in September 2021, ISU said it had recently ended a “longstanding relationship” with Downard after an audit of the partnership uncovered “multiple causes for concern.”
“During multi-year periods between 2011 and 2017, Downard failed to provide anatomical donations to the University,” the statement said. “Due to a lack of donations, Idaho State ended its relationship with Downward in May 2020.”
The university discovered at least four instances in which it had received Intent to Donate forms without ever receiving the bodies, the affidavit says.
As ISU representatives continued their own investigation, they learned of six other individuals whose obituaries stated their bodies had been donated to the university, but the university had never received them.
Suspicious incident and foul smell
Pocatello Police got an anonymous tip about a foul smell was coming from an opened window at the funeral home on Aug. 29, 2021.
While conducting a perimeter search of the building, officers found an opened window on the building’s south side. As they approached the window, the affidavit says, the officers were overwhelmed by a smell they identified as “decaying flesh.”
When officers looked through the opened window, they saw a body they describe in police reports as being “in a severe state of decay” lying on a table. They also saw bodily fluid on the floor and a large number of dead insects.
Just after 2:15 a.m. the following morning, officers passing Downard noticed extra vehicles at the building and the interior lights on. Officers searched the building and determined no one was inside.
During that search, officers saw a second body. This one was sealed in a body bag and loaded into a Lincoln SUV.
A video provided by an anonymous source
A person who has not been named in police reports provided officers with a video taken inside Downard. Documents do not state whether or not this anonymous source is the same who contacted them about the smell.
The video, according to the affidavit, shows the body of a male. The body is swollen and dark brown and purple — which police reports state is consistent with “extensive decay.”
After reviewing the video, officers contacted an investigator with the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses. The investigator, according to the affidavit, had been involved in a separate inquiry involving Downard and missing bodies.
The investigator was provided information and photos and told officers that he would be conducting a surprise visit at Downard.
Surprise inspection
Two investigators from the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses conducted a surprise inspection at Downard on Sept. 1, 2021.
During the inspection, Peck allegedly told the investigators that the body seen by officers had been stored in the room from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30, 2021. Investigators also noticed during the inspection that the refrigerator inside Downard was set at 57 degrees, rather than the required 36 degrees.
They did note, however, that before they left, the temperature of the refrigerator had lowered to 37 degrees.
Asked if there were any other bodies stored outside of the refrigerator, Peck told the investigators that a second body had been stored inside an SUV since Aug. 4, 2021. Investigators had Peck move both bodies into the refrigerator.
The investigators returned to Downard the following day.
Around 4 p.m., Pocatello Police received a call from the investigators requesting assistance after they discovered several unidentified bodies.
Upon arrival, officers were informed by investigators that bodies “in various states of decay” had been found and that Peck had surrendered his business license. The investigators informed responding officers of what they believed to be criminal violations at Downard.
As officers were escorting Peck toward the Downard offices for an interview, they described seeing, among other things, a 55 foot-long, 15 foot-wide trail of “greasy fluid” the officers believed to be human remains.
Peck pointed out several shelves with jarred fetuses next to another decaying body.
Officers question Peck
Once inside the office, officers questioned Peck about the findings.
He told the officers that he had bought Downard Funeral Home 14 years before. At the time of the purchase, he said, a system had already been set up to identify the bodies donated to ISU’s cadaver program.
But, he said, over time, markers used to identify the bodies would wear off. Peck said he had been working with ISU officials to identify bodies returned to him, but communication between the two entities had broken down.
According to police reports, Peck claimed to be “overstocked” with bodies from ISU, and his inability to identify some of the remains “could not be rectified.”
Peck told officers that he was considering ending his own life, so he was placed into protective custody as officers continued their investigation.
Officers serve a search warrant
On Sept. 3, 2021, officers and officials served a search warrant at Downard.
While searching the facility, one of the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses investigators showed the officers how Peck explained he would falsify death certificates.
The investigator told officers that Peck was altering death certificates to show the remains had been received by ISU, the investigator believed, so Peck could avoid having to take the paperwork to Bannock County Coroner Torey Danner for approval.
Police reports describe alterations to several death certificates. There were whited out portions of the certificates and portions of the certificates with fonts differing from other portions.
Among documents discovered during the search was a transit permit for one person’s remains. The permit showed the person’s remains as being received by a separate crematory. However, that person’s body was identified among the decaying bodies found inside Downard.
Officers also found eight garbage bags containing bone fragments in the Downard garage.
Pocatello PD opens investigation into Peck’s finances
After providing his bank with a search warrant, Pocatello detectives received 1,123 pages of financial documents.
According to the affidavit, between 2017 and 2020, Peck “willfully evaded” income taxes on $434,017.67. Peck’s signing of the tax returns constitutes perjury, the affidavit says.
Peck was charged with 63 misdemeanors in September 2022. Numerous families, local and from afar, have expressed frustration over the loss of their loved ones’ remains, or worry the remains they received were those of strangers.
Downard Funeral Home has since been bought by the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25, which demolished the building and turned the property into a parking lot.
Though Peck has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
He is scheduled to appear in court for a for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Judge Aaron Thompson Wednesday.