6 bodies found in Bay Area warehouse linked to mortuary with suspended license

Six bodies and 154 cremated remains have been discovered at an East Bay warehouse linked to a mortuary that had its licensed suspended in 2018, authorities say. The Alameda County coroner is now asking the public to help identify the remains.

After receiving a tip that Oceanview Cremations in Hayward was still operating despite having its license suspended, the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau allegedly inspected the warehouse on March 1 and recovered unidentified remains, KRON4 first reported.

Five of the six bodies were successfully identified, but one set of remains from Sonoma County is still unknown after Oceanview Cremations owner Robert Smith was unable to provide information, authorities say. Of the 154 cremated remains, only four have been identified by family members, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office told CBS. In one instance, a family member who contacted the sheriff's office thought he already possessed his father's remains, only to allegedly discover they were found in the warehouse.

Oceanview Cremations, located at 25180 Mission Boulevard in Hayward, has a history of alleged misdeeds.

A complaint filed by the California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau in January details a list of accusations leveled against Smith from 2011 onward. One of the allegations claims the mortuary held onto a body for 130 days before transporting it for cremation and ignored family members' calls and texts, leading to "considerable distress."

Another accusation alleges that Smith forged family members' signatures on cremation authorization documents and later told authorities, "I do that all the time." In addition, the complaint says that the warehouse at 25176 Mission Boulevard, next door to the mortuary's named address, is not licensed to house human remains and does not have a cold storage facility.

The complaint says that in response to many of the accusations over the years, Smith blamed "memory loss problems."

Various one-star reviews on Yelp describe working with Oceanview Cremations as a "nightmare scenario," with reviewers saying they felt "angry, confused, gaslit, and lied to" by the company.

"Emotional stress related to neglect of knowing your loved one is not taken care is real and this owner doesn't seem to care," one user wrote after allegedly not being able to locate a family member's remains for three months. Both Yelp and Google now list Oceanview Cremations as "permanently closed."

The phone number listed for the company appears to be disconnected; Smith could not be reached for comment.

The sheriff's office told CBS that all unidentified remains are believed to have been received by the mortuary between 2013 and 2021. Anyone who utilized Oceanview Cremations services during that period is asked to contact the Alameda County coroner at 510-382-3000.