Casey Kasem's body headed to Norway for burial
The physical remains of the late Casey Kasem are reportedly going to be buried in Oslo, Norway, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Kasem died in Gig Harbor, Washington, on June 15 at the age of 82 after a long battle with Lewy body dementia.
The Norwegian newspaper VG was the first to report that Kasem's body would be interred at one of Oslo's 20 cemetaries, and this report was confirmed by a private investigator hired by Casey Kasem's daughter Kerri Kasem.
Before his death, a long, protracted legal battle began between Kasem's wife Jean Kasem and his three children, Mike, Julie, and Kerri Kasem, from his previous marriage to Linda Myers.
The story of Kasem's location has been a complex and, at times, very confusing one. In May, the ailing and immobile Kasem was reported missing after he disappeared from a hospital in Santa Monica.
It was later discovered that his wife, despite a court order granting Kerri conservatorship over her father, had moved Casey to Washington state. During this time, the former Top 40 host's health deteriorated even more rapidly.
After a few weeks, Kasem passed away. A restraining order was granted to prevent Jean from cremating Casey's body until an autopsy had been performed. However, when the order was delivered to the funeral home, the body was missing. Jean Kasem had moved the star's remains to a funeral home in Montreal.
Now, after weeks of speculation, it appears that the late-celebrity's final resting place is going to be Oslo.
Danny Deraney, spokesman for Kerri Kasem, told THR, " "We don't know what [Jean Kasem's] plans are, We just know that she wants to keep Casey away from [his] family and friends and by the looks of it, hiding from law enforcement."
Casey's son Mike shared similar sentiments, saying, "There is no connection my dad has with Norway. I don't know if Jean has any ties to Oslo. She certainly has never mentioned it in the last 35 years. Check the exhumation laws there; sounds like a possibility that is the reason she will bury him there. My dad deserves to be buried where he specifically asked to be buried: Forest Lawn. Everyone keeps asking for motives as to why Jean acts how she acts. I don't have an answer."
According to a THR interview with Kerri Kasem in June, Jean had sent a letter to the lawyer in charge of Kasem's will stating that she is "coming after" an irrevocable trust that the late-Kasem had left for his children, and had set up 30 years earlier.
It has been reported that Casey Kasem had been worth $80 million at the time of his death.