{"id":6166,"date":"2026-07-16T15:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6166"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:37:25","slug":"profound-sadness-nc-family-discovers-deceased-relative-left-unclaimed-for-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6166","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Profound sadness\u2019: NC family discovers deceased relative left unclaimed for months"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NORTH CAROLINA (WJZY) \u2014 When a person dies and there\u2019s no one to claim the body, sometimes it\u2019s because the family doesn\u2019t even know.<\/p>

Read more Despite high above normal rainfall, central NC drought continues, little improvement seen<\/a><\/p>\n

Sheila Williams from Davidson learned in a painful way how a loved one can slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n

Williams says her cousin, Clarissa Nielsen, was unmarried, mentally ill, and a recluse in her Raleigh home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve reached out. She seems ok,\u201d Williams said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got your own life too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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Clarissa Nielsen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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She wishes she had pushed harder to connect with and help Nielsen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough that mental illness, she refused help,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHer neighbors tried to help her, and she would scream at them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last December, Williams saw a Facebook post that suggested Nielsen had died.<\/p>\n

Several frantic calls confirmed that not only was it true, but Clarissa had been dead for six months.<\/p>\n

The family has 22 cousins, and no one knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a profound sadness,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThen we were like, \u2018Where\u2019s her body?’\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nielsen was moved to North Carolina\u2019s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.<\/p>\n

Officials performed an autopsy, determined she died of natural causes, then cremated her.<\/p>\n

Williams can\u2019t understand why no one reached out to Nielsen\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it took me only an hour to put all the pieces together [using the state\u2019s search software], it just makes me question how deep did they really go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Department of Health and Human Services officials said in a statement, \u201cReasonable effort is made to\u00a0locate relatives of the decedent. This includes working with law enforcement and the county Medical Examiner\u2026Searches may include news articles, software connection to public records for identification, and an online genealogy database query<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Max Verstappen leaves his F1 future open but says things are \u2018really good\u2019 with Red Bull team boss<\/a><\/p>\n

If family can\u2019t be found or can\u2019t claim them for financial reasons, which is common, the state stores the ashes for three years, then scatters them miles off the Atlantic coast<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

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When someone goes unclaimed without needing an autopsy, county social services departments take responsibility.<\/p>\n

Mecklenburg County sends its unclaimed to Eddie Pigg and his wife, Teresa.<\/p>\n

They own Pigg Family Services, a funeral home in Bessemer City.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes there\u2019s people who have nobody,\u201d Eddie Pigg said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done several homeless cases for Mecklenburg County, so it makes you wonder, \u2018Are they looking for them? Have they thought about them?’\u201d<\/p>\n

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Eddie Pigg of Pigg Family Services, a Bessemer City funeral home<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Piggs have the bodies cremated at a west Charlotte crematory.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne week we had maybe seven people in just a week\u2019s time that had been unclaimed persons,\u201d Pigg said.<\/p>\n

The ashes are stored for at least six months, then the Piggs will dispose of the remains.<\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t scattered any ashes yet because the agreement with the county is too new, but Pigg says he plans to scatter dozens of sets of ashes on his family\u2019s farm near Albemarle.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cIf someone\u2019s looking [for the person], we can post that information, and they can find them,\u201d Pigg said. \u201cThey know they\u2019re at peace; they know where they\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams is glad she and her family claimed their cousin before strangers disposed of Nielsen\u2019s ashes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone\u2019s alone like that, don\u2019t assume they have it together and don\u2019t need help,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIf you\u2019re dependent on the state to contact you, you may not get that call.\u201d<\/p>

Read more How to protect yourself from the bad air caused by wildfires<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 900 people died in North Carolina last year and went unclaimed.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a person dies and there’s no one to claim the body, sometimes it’s because the family doesn’t even know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Profound sadness\u2019: NC family discovers deceased relative left unclaimed for months - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6166\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Profound sadness\u2019: NC family discovers deceased relative left unclaimed for months - 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