In early December of 2011, Pittsburgh Police along with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Officer removed 19 containers of cremated human remains and 30 animal remains from the abandoned funeral home. The director, lost his license because a state inspector found a woman’s remains in the early stages of decomposition in his garage in 2009. Shortly after that, he moved out, leaving additional remains behind. A man told police that he never received his mother’s cremated remains from Sauvageot, prompting the search.

“There was a big moving van in front of the house in the afternoon and evening, and in the morning he was gone along with it,” said David O’Connor. Sauvageot bought the funeral home a little more than 20 years ago, and it just “slowly went downhill”.

These explorations are always the hardest when there is a sad story behind what happened. Having said that, it is comforting to know that the remains have been identified and also to know what happened to the property. We did not see any information on the future state of the property but seeing how authorities have not been able to contact the owner the city will demolish it after it becomes a safety hazard. Until next time explorers, stay safe.