Austin woman receives sister's ashes after months of waiting ...Middle East

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A woman waiting months to get her loved one's ashes is finally getting a bit of closure. Melanie Azpeitia said she experienced delays from the business that did the cremation, which is now the same place at the center of a corpse abuse investigation.

Azpeitia first reached out to Capital Mortuary Services after her sister, Tamara, passed away at the start of this year. Azpeitia said originally, things went well.

"They gave me some paperwork to fill out," Azpeitia said. "Signed all that, paid in full, and then they told me it would take about a week to process."

Azpeitia said she originally put the cremation on pause, as she tried to figure out if she needed to do an autopsy for her sister. She said the owner, Adeline Bui, agreed to wait.

However, a few days later, Azpeitia said she received a new fee after already paying in full.

"They sent me another bill for refrigeration fees, and we went back and forth on emails," Azpeitia said. "There was no discussion of this. There was no contract."

Azpeitia said Bui refused to give her sister's ashes until the fee was paid. Azpeitia then went to the Texas Funeral Service Commission to file a complaint.

Not long after that, she heard about Bui's arrest in April for a different situation.

Corpse abuse investigation

Bui is accused of forging death certificates and running "experiments" on severed limbs.

The Austin Police Department confirmed that at least one body was abused more than three weeks ago at Capital Mortuary.

Officials said they're still trying to identify who that person was.

Investigators said Bui worked with medical training facility, MedtoMarket, on the experiments. According to APD, it involved her injecting formaldehyde into arms to see the effect it had over time on severed extremities.

According to Bui's attorney, this has to do with efforts to find more eco-friendly and cost-effective ways to preserve cadavers longer for training purposes.

MedtoMarket CEO Aaron Ali faces charges of Abuse of Corpse without Legal Authority and Aggravated Perjury.

Officials said Ali acknowledged instructing Capital Mortuary staff to preserve and observe the progression of embalmed limbs over time. However, Ali denied labeling the activities as experiments.

When police asked the Texas Funeral Service Commission (TFSC) if this was legal, the commission said no. It said Capital Mortuary is not licensed to perform this kind of work.

Bui's attorney said none of the bodies in the care of Eternal Peace Funeral Services, the other facility Bui is licensed to, were involved in any of the embalming-related work done on corpses.

APD said using Capital Mortuary doesn't necessarily mean your family member or loved one was involved as a victim.

Still, APD's Victim Services Counselors are available to answer questions and provide basic information.

"We are obviously getting inundated with quite a number of calls and emails and people reaching out trying to get information. Thankfully, the APD Victim Services offered to assist with that," said APD Detective Bryce Bishop.

Families getting loved one's remains

Regarding families picking up remains, the TFSC said families should reach out directly to the funeral home. If any issues arise, the TFSC said fill out a complaint form and submit it to their investigation team.

"I actually called and got in touch with someone over at Eternal Peace," Azpeitia said. "Told them, 'Look, you know, I'm one of those unfortunate families that need to pick up remains from Capital Mortuary.' And he said, 'Yes, we do have everything over here.'"

Finally on Friday, Azpeitia got what she was waiting months for.

"Feeling victory, feeling anger, feeling happiness, relief. I mean, there's just so many emotions running together."

While she's still processing this situation, she's thankful to finally take her sister home.

"May she rest in peace and may all the families out there find peace and get their loved ones and be able to have closure," Azpeitia said.

Azpeitia said that because of her experience, she wants to help others through this process as well.

"If there's any families out there that I can help, I'm willing to give my information for them to contact me so I can help them and guide them on who they need to reach out to and how to help them," Azpeitia said.

She recommended people call Eternal Peace Funeral Service and connect with someone there about the steps to pick up remains. Azpeitia said she was told to bring her driver's license and give them an hour's notice before arriving.

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