Virginia Beach deputy seeks proper end for unclaimed bodies

VIRGINIA BEACH

Case No. 08-02-017 - "Unclaimed Body of Elena Teoduru" - was dropped on Lt. Linda Richie's desk at the Sheriff's Office in February.

Teoduru was found dead of poisoning about a year ago in a home on Hafford Road, near Stumpy Lake. The 49-year-old had been identified through dental records, and her body was stored at the medical examiner's office in Norfolk in the hopes that someone, anyone, would claim it.

Weeks would pass before Richie tracked down Teoduru's daughter through the Dutch Embassy. In a letter from Holland, Silvana Arici wrote that she could not afford to have her mother flown home.

"I can't imagine what that's like," said Richie, who arranged for Teoduru's interment in a cemetery off Witchduck Road last month.

Richie, a deputy for 17 years, works in Professional Standards. She has handled six similar cases this year in which bodies have not been claimed and are not suitable for use in medical research.

The department dealt with four unclaimed bodies all of last year.

The law provides that the sheriff accept such bodies and petition the court for proper disposal after all "good faith" efforts to find next of kin or friends are exhausted.

Richie works to find those families and friends by checking criminal histories, bank accounts and Social Security or Veterans Administration records.

Richie puts the pieces of each life together like a puzzle.

"We do what we can for them," she said, "and hopefully give some type of meaningful end."

In the Teoduru case, that closure came in mailing the death certificate to her daughter.

"Every situation is not the same," Richie said. "You can't write a guide on this because everyone you pick up is different. Some are heart-wrenching."

Like Richard Sauer. The 74-year-old man had a heart attack in his apartment in December and died alone. There was no record that anyone knew him. His doctor said he had no emergency contacts.

Then there was the case of "black male fetus, William," which was miscarried 11 years ago and found in a bloody towel. When the state finally decided this year it no longer needed the body, the mother had disappeared, and the owner of the house where he died had lost touch with her.

"That one was really hard," Richie said.

The unclaimed might be homeless or elderly, living in a nursing home, or had a dispute with a relative who refuses to take responsibility.

The unclaimed body is cremated unless the person can't be identified or died under suspicious circumstances.

Two weeks ago, Richie received her latest case, a 65-year-old woman.

For 10 years the woman had lived with her boyfriend. When she died in his home, he had no means to give her a proper burial.

Her body awaits a court order for final disposition. Richie was told that the woman loved the beach and wanted her remains to be scattered there when she died.

She'll get her wish, Richie said.

"It is actually rewarding," she said. "You get to give someone their final resting place."

Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com