Group wants Troy city leaders held accountable for dad’s missing ashes

A local organization wants to hold Troy city leaders and police accountable, after a woman claims her father’s ashes were removed by police during a fire in her home.

Jennifer Brunson said it’s one of the most traumatic experiences she’s ever gone through. The group Community Rising Project wanted to publicly support Brunson.

Community Rising Project focuses on helping people who it believes have suffered wrongdoing by local and state leaders.

NewsChannel 13 was first to tell you that Brunson got a call on Jan. 4 that her longtime family home on 5th Avenue was on fire.

Her sister told her that police were taking her father’s ashes to be tested.

The remains were tested for drugs or hazards, police said. Everything came back negative. However, Brunson doesn’t know what happened to the ashes afterwards. She was told nobody asked for them back.

An evidence technician put the urn near the property’s entrance for Brunson and her family to grab, but it was probably damaged during the fire, according to a spokesperson for Mayor Carmella Mantello.

Brunson says she is outraged by this response.

“I’ve heard so many people, stories in my inbox of people saying how Troy PD treated them unfairly, but they’re too scared to say anything about it. Well, I’m not scared. I’m mad and hurt,” she said. “Anybody who knows my father knows he deserved way more respect than they treated us with.”

The Community Rising Project said another reason they wanted to hold a press conference about this is because they’ve heard similar stories about city police and officials not doing their job correctly.

City officials were not invited to the press conference, but a spokesperson for Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello was there. He declined to be interviewed.

Mayor Mantello, Police Chief Dan DeWolf, and Fire Chief Rich Cellucci released this joint statement shortly afterwards:

“Ms. Brunson’s claims in her most recent interview outside of City Hall are unequivocally false and blatantly misleading to the public. Ms. Brunson’s family suffered a tragic housefire on the night of January 4^th and during the events of that evening, according to the family, there were two large explosions heard from the second floor of Ms. Brunson’s property, which started the fire. All the families’ belongings on the second floor of their home were completely incinerated. Once the fire had been fully extinguished, firefighters began trying to salvage what remained. It was at that time that a rectangular box made of some type of stone was discovered which showed a residue in the form of a white powdery substance on the vessel. To ensure their safety, the firefighters called in an evidence technician to test the residue to conclude it was not a type of narcotic that could be harmful. On the night of January 4^th, Troy Police and firefighters had been made aware of allegations that there had been methamphetamine being cooked on the second floor of Ms. Brunson’s home. It has also been confirmed that a resident within the home, on the night of the fire, had a prior history of drug use and is currently on parole. Firefighters also encountered an odd odor within the residence that could not be identified, which led to further investigation. When the vessel was discovered, it had been missing the top and bottom and was not containing any form of remains. The vessel was brought outside of the residence to be shown to the family so they could identify. It was at that point that the vessel had been identified by Ms. Brunson’s family as an urn that once held Ms. Brunson’s father’s ashes. The vessel was then placed near the entryway of Ms. Brunson’s home because it had been charred and damaged and not something anyone would like to hold with their bare hands. Mayor Mantello and Chief DeWolf granted Ms. Brunson the ability to come to the police station to view body camera footage, which she accepted. Ms. Brunson watched less than half of the total footage before she left on her own accord. Ms. Brunson’s claims that she was forced out of the police station are also untrue.

It is unfortunate that Ms. Brunson has decided to mislead everyone about the events of that evening, but we want to make clear that no police officer or firefighter removed or confiscated any remains from Ms. Brunson’s property. We have all put hours of time and effort into trying to help Ms. Brunson since being made aware of the issue. This is the result of a tragic house fire and nothing more. The investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing. We express our heartfelt condolences to Ms. Brunson and her family during this difficult time. The Mayor’s Office, Police Department, and Fire Department remain committed to serving the people of the City of Troy.”