Sunset Mesa Funeral Home: Megan Hess and the Body Trade

Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors was a funeral home in Montrose, Colorado, that offered families cheap cremations from 2010 to 2018. Its owner, Megan Hess, and her mother, Shirley Koch, instead took many of those bodies and sold them, whole or in parts, through a body-broker business in the same building. Families were often given ashes that were not their loved one's. Hess was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on 3 January 2023. Koch got 15 years. A judge imposed the same sentences again on 21 April 2025.

That is the short answer to "what happened at Sunset Mesa Funeral Home." If you have seen a documentary or a podcast and want the record, the rest of this page lays it out with sources.

One note first. There is a well-known fashion illustrator also called Megan Hess. She has nothing to do with this case.

This page also has a practical side. Many people want to donate their body to science. It is a generous choice. Sunset Mesa shows how that generosity can be abused, and how to make sure your wishes are kept.

This story includes upsetting details about what happened to the dead. We include them only where they help you protect your family.

A hug at the door

Imagine you live in a small town. A friendly local funeral director helped your family more than once. You recommend her to friends. Then, one day, the FBI raids her business.

You go to her home. You hug her. She says, "Oh honey, they don't know what they're talking about."

A woman from Montrose described exactly that moment to Megan Hess in court in January 2023. "You hurt not only me, but our community," she said. "Montrose trusted you. I sent so many people to you, and you betrayed them" (KKCO/Gray News, 4 January 2023).

Another family said: "We don't know who was in that box, only that it wasn't her. It felt like we lost her again."

Here is the question this case leaves with you. If someone you love dies tomorrow, who decides what happens to their body? You, or the business that collects it?

What Sunset Mesa was

Sunset Mesa was two businesses under one roof.

The first was Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors, an ordinary-looking funeral home. It charged $1,000 or more for a cremation (US Attorney's Office, Colorado, 17 March 2020).

The second was Donor Services, a nonprofit Hess set up in 2009. Its legal name was Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation. It was a body-broker business. It supplied bodies and body parts to buyers who used them for research and training. It ran from the same address as the funeral home.

According to court documents, Hess used cheap rates to attract families on low incomes (KKCO/Gray News). A cheap cremation brought in a steady flow of bodies. The bodies were the real product.

What families were promised, and what the record shows

Federal prosecutors laid out the scheme in the plea agreements. Here it is, step by step (US Attorney's Office, 3 January 2023).

What families were told	What the record shows
Your loved one will be cremated	Bodies or parts were taken and sold, often with no cremation of the whole body
Here are their ashes	Families "frequently" received ashes that were not their loved one's
Donation only if you agree	In many cases donation was never discussed; some families had refused it
Only a small sample, if you agree	Where families agreed to a small sample, far more was sold
(To buyers) these remains are disease-free	Some had tested positive for hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV

No permission. In many cases, Hess and Koch "neither discussed nor obtained authorization" for donation. In others, "the topic of donation was raised by Hess or Koch, and specifically rejected by the families." They took the bodies anyway.

Too much taken. Some families agreed to give a small amount: "small tissue samples, tumors, or portions of skin." Hess and Koch sold far more than that.

Forged forms. A 2026 review in the medical literature examined the case files. Of 811 bodies sold, 447 files had donor authorisation forms. At least 187 of those were forgeries (Johnson, PMC, 2026).

Dangerous shipping. Hess and Koch shipped remains from people with infectious diseases after certifying they were disease-free. They sent them by post and on commercial flights, breaking federal rules on hazardous materials.

The scale. According to Hess's plea agreement, at least 222 bodies were stolen, and another 338 were "almost certainly stolen" (Denver Post, 21 April 2025). Agents traced bodies and parts to buyers as far away as Saudi Arabia. Investigators found only 42 families who gave informed consent (Courthouse News, 3 December 2024).

How it came out

Reuters was investigating the US body trade. In January 2018 it published a report on Sunset Mesa and Donor Services. In February 2018, the FBI raided the business, the Denver Post reports.

The federal case was called "Operation Morbid Market." In March 2020, a grand jury charged Hess and Koch with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of illegally transporting hazardous materials. Charges are allegations until proven.

In July 2022 each pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and aiding and abetting.

Timeline of the Sunset Mesa case

• 2009. Hess sets up Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation, trading as Donor Services, at the funeral home's address (US Attorney's Office).
• 2010 to 2018. Hess and Koch run the funeral home and sell bodies and parts, according to the plea agreements.
• January 2018. Reuters publishes its report on Sunset Mesa as part of its series on the body trade.
• February 2018. The FBI raids Sunset Mesa (Denver Post).
• March 2020. Hess and Koch are arrested and charged.
• July 2022. Both plead guilty to one count of mail fraud.
• 3 January 2023. Hess gets 20 years; Koch gets 15. Families speak in court for more than two and a half hours (KKCO/Gray News).
• 24 May 2024. Colorado's governor signs new laws on funeral homes and body-donation companies.
• July 2024. The 10th Circuit sets the sentences aside and sends the case back.
• 21 April 2025. The same judge imposes the same sentences again.

Eight years passed between the first sale in the record and the raid. Families kept choosing Sunset Mesa the whole time. Nobody outside the building was checking.

The money machine

Here is how the business made money, as the court record and Hess's own filings describe it.

1. Advertise a low price. Cremation for about $1,000 drew families who could not afford more.

2. Take the body. The funeral home had legal custody. Families trusted it. Nobody checked what happened behind closed doors.

3. Sell it. Bodies and parts went to buyers who use them for research and medical training. Across eight years, Hess and Koch made about $1.2 million from 811 bodies, Courthouse News reported.

4. Hand back "ashes." Families got a container of ashes. Often they were someone else's, or a mix (US Attorney's Office; Johnson, PMC).

5. Get paid twice. The family paid for a cremation. The buyer paid for the remains. The cost of doing the cremation properly was the only thing cut.

Notice the pattern. It is the same one we found in Return to Nature Funeral Home, also in Colorado. Take the fee, skip the service, return something that looks like ashes. Grieving families have no reason, and no way, to check.

Who is behind Sunset Mesa, and what they have said

Proven in court. Megan Hess, 46 at her first sentencing, and her mother, Shirley Koch, 69, both pleaded guilty to mail fraud.

• On 3 January 2023, Senior US District Judge Christine M. Arguello sentenced Hess to 20 years and Koch to 15 years.
• In July 2024, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals set the sentences aside. It found the judge had made errors in calculating financial loss and in applying a sentencing rule about vulnerable victims (Colorado Public Radio, 22 April 2025; Courthouse News).
• On 21 April 2025, Judge Arguello imposed the same sentences again: 20 years for Hess, 15 for Koch. "Hess has shown no remorse and continues to justify her heinous conduct," she said (Denver Post).

What Hess has said. In a December 2024 court filing, Hess said she "was never the wealthy kingpin she was always made out to be." She said she had a lower-middle-class home, drove a $7,000 car and made "only a meager 20-30K in business income" from Donor Services. She said she had a traumatic brain injury and "suffered under the delusion her fraud was a necessary means to a scientific end" (Courthouse News). The judge was not persuaded.

What Koch has said. Koch told federal investigators that Hess was the brains behind the operation and she provided the labour, the Denver Post reports.

What is unknown. Many families will never know where their loved one's remains went. "We will never know the final resting place of our mom," one family said in court. The total number of victims is also uncertain. The Denver Post says authorities put it at more than 500.

Why this was hard to stop: the legal gap

Here is the part that surprises most people. In most of the US, it is legal to buy and sell donated bodies for research and education.

Federal law, the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, bans buying and selling organs for transplants. The main donation law in most states, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, only bans sales "for transplantation or therapy." Only a few states, such as Florida, Missouri and Nebraska, extend the ban to education and research (Johnson, PMC, 2026).

That is why Hess and Koch were charged with mail fraud and hazardous materials offences. The crime prosecutors could prove was lying to families and buyers. The selling itself was not the charge.

The same review describes a whole industry of private "non-transplant tissue banks." They supply bodies to train surgeons and test medical devices. Some operate honestly. Some have been sued or prosecuted. A federal bill to regulate them, the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act, was reintroduced in 2025 but has not moved.

What Colorado changed

After the raid, Colorado acted.

• It now bans anyone from owning more than a 10% interest in both a funeral home and a body-donation company (Johnson, PMC).
• It bans payments to funeral homes for referring people to body-donation companies.
• In May 2024 it passed HB24-1254, which requires non-transplant tissue banks to keep records and bans them from buying human remains (Denver7, 24 May 2024).

Other states have passed their own rules. Most still allow bodies to be bought and sold for research.

Red flags you can check yourself

None of these proves wrongdoing. Each is a reason to pause.

1. A funeral home that also runs a donation business. Ask directly: "Do you, or anyone who owns this business, have a stake in a body donation company?" In Colorado that is now restricted. In many places it is not.

2. A discount for donating. If anyone offers a cheaper funeral or free cremation in return for donating the body, slow down. Ask who receives the body, what it will be used for and whether it could be sold.

3. Pressure to sign today. Donation decisions belong to the person who died, written while they were alive, or to the family with time to think. A form pushed across the desk in the first hours is a warning sign.

4. Vague answers about use. "Medical research" can mean almost anything. A good programme will tell you what kinds of use are possible, in writing.

5. Forms you did not sign. Ask for a copy of every authorisation form with your name on it. In the Sunset Mesa files, at least 187 forms were forged.

6. Ashes with no paperwork. Ask for the crematory's name and the date of cremation. If the business cannot tell you, ask why.

7. A price far below the area. Low prices can be honest. But compare with our free funeral cost estimator. A price far below the low end deserves a question.

How to donate your body safely

If you want to give your body to science, you can still do it with confidence. Here is how to make sure it goes where you intend.

Choose the programme yourself, while you are alive. Many medical schools and universities run willed-body programmes. Sign up directly, in your own name. Your family then does not have to choose under pressure.

Ask these questions in writing.

• Who runs the programme? A university, a hospital or a private company?
• Could my body, or parts of it, be sold or passed to another organisation?
• What kinds of use are possible? Teaching students? Training surgeons? Testing devices?
• Who pays for transport, and what happens if I die far away?
• Will my ashes be returned? When, and to whom?
• What happens if the programme cannot accept my body when I die?

Write your limits down. If you only want your body used for teaching medical students, say so. If you never want it sold, say so. Keep a copy of the signed consent form with your other planning papers.

Tell your family, and name a back-up plan. Programmes sometimes decline a body because of illness, timing or space. Your family should know what to do then.

Never let a funeral home "handle the donation" for a discount. Contact the programme yourself. If a funeral home is involved in transport, it should be the programme that arranges it.

The honest lesson

The families who used Sunset Mesa were not careless. They were grieving, often short of money and trusting a neighbour. The law gave them very little protection.

What would have helped most is a decision made in calm. A written wish that says: "I want to be cremated, and I do not consent to donation." Or: "I have signed up with this university programme, and only this one. Here is my form."

Death comes to us all, and preparing for it is an act of love. When your wishes are written down, nobody can easily overrule them. Your family can say, "No, that is not what she wanted," and show it.

You can start today. Our free end-of-life readiness check shows what is missing from your plans, in a few minutes. Our guide on how to write a living will covers how to put medical wishes in writing. The Complete Planning Library includes a "my wishes" worksheet and a funeral and memorial planning sheet where you can record your choice about donation, and where your papers are kept. It costs $39, once, with a 30-day refund. It cannot police the body trade. It can make your own choice clear and hard to ignore.

In Arizona, families who did agree to donation were deceived about what it meant. Read Biological Resource Center: The Arizona Body Donation Case for how to read a donation consent form.