Six bodies, 154 cremated remains were stored in Hayward factory

HAYWARD — The bodies of six people and the cremated remains of 154 others were recovered earlier this month from a former crematorium that had its license suspended five years ago, authorities said.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office in a statement said they are seeking help in reuniting one of the bodies and the 154 cremated remains with their families.

The remains were associated with Oceanview Cremations. Sheriff’s Office spokeperson Lt. Tya Modeste said the business’ license was suspended in March 2018 but that the bodies it is trying to reunite with families came to the business between 2013 and 2021.

Modeste said the bodies and remains were kept at a warehouse that was unauthorized to store remains. Five of the six non-cremated bodies were identified. Five were from Alameda County and the sixth from Sonoma County, she said. All six died between 2020 and 2021.

Authorities could not identify one of them, because Oceanview Cremations owner Robert Smith was unable to produce any viable information about the location of death or the next of kin, Modeste said.

Grissom’s Mortuary, a funeral home that has contracted with Alameda County, has taken over control of the bodies and remains, according to Modeste.

Of the cremated remains, 64 were Alameda County residents; 23 were from San Francisco County; 15 from San Mateo County; 10 from Contra Costa County; nine from Santa Clara County and four from Santa Cruz County. The rest were spread from Solano, Marin, Napa, Stanislaus, Sonoma, San Joaquin, Fresno, Placer and Sacramento counties.

The Sheriff’s Office encouraged anyone who used Oceanview Cremations between 2013 and 2022 to arrange their loved one’s cremation, and may have a question about what happened to those remains, to call the Alameda County Coroner’s Office at 510-382-3000.