Casey Kasem's Widow, Children Fight Over His Remains
SEATTLE (AP) — A judge has granted Casey Kasem's daughter a temporary restraining order preventing the famous radio host's wife from cremating his remains, but it's unclear where those remains are or whether they've already been disposed of.
A lawyer for Kasem's daughter Kerri Kasem said Friday that when he went to give a Tacoma funeral home a copy of the restraining order, he was informed it no longer had the remains.
"They said they could not disclose where he had gone or where he would end up," said the lawyer, Scott Winship.
Tim Grant, funeral director at Gaffney Funeral Home & Cremation Services, confirmed Friday that Kasem's body was no longer there.
"I cannot discuss the actual arrangements themselves, but he's no longer in our care," he said.
Kasem's wife of the past 34 years, Jean Kasem, filled out a death certificate dated July 15 listing an address in Jerusalem, according to a copy filed in Pierce County Superior Court. The document listed "removal from state" as the intended means of disposing the remains, the Urgel Bourgie funeral home in Montreal as the place of disposition, and July 14 as the date of disposition.
A man who answered the phone at Urgel Bourgie on Friday evening said it had disposed of no such remains and had no one by the name of Casey Kasem in its computer system.
Teruyuki Olsen, a lawyer for Kasem's wife, refused to comment Friday or provide any information about what happened to Kasem's body.
Kasem, the radio host of "American Top 40" and voice of animated television characters like Scooby-Doo's sidekick Shaggy, died June 15 at a hospital in Gig Harbor. He was 82 and suffering from dementia, and his death followed a lengthy battle over his care between Jean Kasem and his three adult children from his first marriage.
Kerri Kasem asked a Pierce County Superior Court judge on Wednesday for authorization to seek an autopsy on her father as well as a temporary restraining order to ensure his body was held in cold storage and not cremated until that autopsy is completed.
Judge Ronald Culpepper ordered Jean Kasem to ensure that the radio host's remains were preserved and that his body stayed at the Tacoma funeral home until the court decided on the autopsy petition following a July 25 hearing.
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