By admin 
MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. (WJZY) — Dying alone is a fate we all hope to avoid, but hundreds of people die every year in North Carolina without anyone claiming them.
State officials have found a way to say goodbye with dignity.
When a person dies and family either can’t be found, can’t pay for arrangements, or simply chooses not to take responsibility, the body can fall to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
In most cases, the OCME will cremate and store the ashes for three years, leaving the door open for a claim.
“It does happen where some families don’t know about the deaths until months later,” said Clyde Gibbs, a medical examiner specialist with the OCME. “Families are spread all over the state and country now.”
Once a year, the remains of the people who haven’t been claimed are taken out to the deep Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morehead City, about five hours from Charlotte.
The North Carolina Marine Patrol pilots the small vessel, while staff with the OCME scatter the ashes to give them a final resting place.
Queen City News joined officials last month when they scattered the ashes of 116 people who died in 2022.
When asked if he felt it was the right thing to do for them, Gibbs said, “Yes, I mean we have no other real good options available to what could or should happen.”
Gibbs says the 116 people were the most unclaimed dead they handled in one year up until that time, which he attributes to the pandemic.
“Some families were losing multiple family members due to COVID, so they had to pick and choose who they had arrangements for, or you just had entire families who died with no one to claim them,” Gibbs said.
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The state’s OCME is responsible for unclaimed bodies that require autopsies.
For natural deaths, counties take responsibility, but there’s no statewide database that tracks these deaths, so Queen City News contacted the Social Services departments of all 100 North Carolina counties.
More than 85 of the departments responded. Those, combined with the state, handled a total of nearly 900 unclaimed bodies in each of 2025 and 2024.
The state officials who help scatter the ashes share a sense of satisfaction and meaning in the work.
“Feels like you’re giving something back to people,” said Sgt. Capt. Brian Gupton with the North Carolina Marine Patrol. “It’s just a respectful way for them to go and glad we could help out.”
Abigail Robertson, an autopsy technician with the OCME, said, “I think it’s the most respectful thing we can do for them to be able to give them some kind of peace, instead of them staying in our office.”
State law requires counties to make “reasonable efforts” to locate relatives or anyone who may be willing to claim the body.
A Mecklenburg County spokesperson says the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services “utilizes multiple resources to identify and locate family members or responsible parties. These efforts include the use of State and County systems, public search databases, and a third-party national database that contains publicly available records and personal information.”
Mecklenburg contracts with Pigg Family Services to handle final dispositions.
The county spokesperson said, “Most unclaimed decedents are cremated unless a specific religious affiliation has been confirmed and cremation goes against that religion’s beliefs. In those cases, the decedent is buried in a city cemetery. For decedents who are cremated, the cremains are held for six months to allow additional time for family members or interested parties to come forward. If no one claims the remains, Pigg Family Services conducts a respectful scattering of the cremains on private property designated for that purpose. The costs associated with these services are funded by Mecklenburg County through the contractual agreement, ensuring that every decedent receives a dignified and respectful final disposition.”
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