FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – The Allen County Coroner’s Office has laid to rest 118 unclaimed and unidentified people.
They include nine people who were never identified and three infants. The Laying to Rest of Unclaimed and Unidentified Decedents Ceremony was held Wednesday at Diving Mercy Funeral Home and Catholic Cemetery.
The remains will be kept in the Resurrection Mausoleum, selected to allow people to claim the deceased still.
Read more here
Ahead of the service, the following was released:
Fort Wayne, IN – August 26, 2026 – The Allen County Coroner’s Office, in partnership with He Knows Your Name Ministry, is honored to announce the Laying to Rest of Unclaimed & Unidentified Decedent Ceremony.
The Ceremony will pay tribute to individuals who have remained unclaimed at the Allen County Coroner’s Office Since 2001. It will include acknowledgements, a prayer, Veteran Recognition, and a reading of their names. Community members, local officials, and representatives from the Allen County Coroner’s Office, Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, American Legion Post 47, Fort Wayne Pipe & Drum Brigade, Fort Wayne Police Department Chaplains, and He Knows Your Name Ministry will attend to offer support and respect.
“When individuals remain unclaimed, even after extensive investigative attempts to contact next of kin, it becomes our responsibility to ensure they are laid to rest with care and professionalism,” said Allen County Coroner E. Jon Brandenberger, MD. “This ceremony reflects our commitment to serving every member of our community with dignity and respect, even after death”
Since 2009, He Knows Your Name founder Linda Znachko has provided dignity and honor at the deaths of hundreds of individuals throughout Indiana. This will be the first time partnering with the Allen County Coroner’s Office to lay the community’s unclaimed and unidentified to rest. This upcoming ceremony will lay to rest 120 unclaimed & unidentified individuals, three being infants.
“These partnerships with the Allen County Coroner’s Office, Divine Mercy, and He Knows Your Name, is a meaningful reflection of what can happen when organizations come together around a shared belief: that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, even after death.”
Comments