An investigation into a “green” funeral home has been launched in the United States: 115 dead were found

At least 115 bodies have been found at a green funeral home in the US state of Colorado. Return to Nature Funeral Home, which is currently under investigation, conducted “green” funerals without the use of embalming chemicals.

Police said Friday they found at least 115 bodies at a so-called “green” Colorado funeral home under investigation for mishandling human remains.

Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said his office is coordinating with other agencies to determine whether there are any violations, according to the Associated Press.

Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, conducted a “green” funeral without using embalming chemicals or metal caskets, the Associated Press reported.

The investigation focused on a building owned by a funeral home, where residents reported a foul odor before police became involved.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the building Tuesday night, and sheriff’s investigators returned the next day with a search warrant and discovered improperly stored remains.

Authorities said at a news conference Friday that they believe there is no public health risk at this time.

Penrose is a town of about 3,000 people in the mountains west of Colorado Springs.

On Thursday, trash bags could be seen outside the company building and it was cordoned off while a putrid smell wafted throughout.

The hearse was parked behind the building, in a lot overgrown with weeds. Under Colorado law, green burials are legal, but state code requires that any body not buried within 24 hours be properly refrigerated.

According to the Associated Press, local resident Joyce Pavetti, 73, can see the funeral home from her front porch and says she has smelled a putrid odor over the past few weeks.

“We just assumed it was a dead animal,” the woman says. On Wednesday night, Pavetti said she saw the lights of law enforcement swarming around the building and knew something was going on. Her neighbor Ron Alexander thought the smell was coming from the septic tank.

Return to Nature Funeral Home provides burial of unembalmed bodies in biodegradable caskets, shrouds or “nothing at all,” according to its website. The company also provides cremation services. Messages left for the Colorado Springs-based company were not immediately returned.

“No embalming fluids, no concrete crypts. As natural as possible,” says the eco-friendly funeral home website. The company charges from $1,895 for “natural burial.”

Return to Nature was founded six years ago in Colorado Springs, according to public records.

“Green” burial, the Associated Press recalls, refers to the burial of bodies that have not been embalmed, as opposed to human composting, in which the body is placed in a vessel and turned into soil.