Casey Kasem's body could be kept in Montreal funeral home for months and his children may never know where he is to be buried, his family fears

Family spokesman told MailOnline they fear body is being stored in funeral home in Montreal

Say widow Jean - who is at war with his children - is 'playing games' and they could never find out where his burial is

Jean moved body to Montreal on July 14 - a month after his death

Was flown there just before daughter won restraining order from judge to stop Jean cremating body in the U.S.

Casey Kasem's dead body could be locked away in a funeral home for months and the star's children may never know where he is to be buried, his family told MailOnline today.

A spokesman for the family said they fear his body is being stored in a funeral home in Montreal while his widow Jean 'plays games' with other family members that she has been at war with during Casey's last few years of his life.



There is no time limit to how long he can be kept in the undignified state and Jean has sole control of his remains and is under no obligation to tell anyone where he is or what she intends to do with them.

Mystery: Casey Kasem's body is believed to be in Montreal but the only person who knows for sure is his wife Jean. A spokesman at the funeral home stated on his death certificate would not confirm he is there



War: Kerri Kasem has been fighting a very public battle against Jean, claiming she was guilty of elder abuse of the star. Her spokesman today said she fears she will never know where her father is to be buried

A spokesperson for the family said today: 'At this point we believe that Casey's body is at a funeral home in Montreal, although it's difficult to be 100% sure, our fear is that Jean plans to keep Casey there for months while she plays her games. Ultimately our worry is that we may never know where Casey is to be buried.'

Casey’s body is understood to be in Montreal, Canada, after it was apparently shipped there on July 14 - a month after his death - by Jean against the wishes of most of his family.

But there is confusion over what happened next. The funeral director from Tacoma, Washington, who sent the body and his counterpart in Montreal have both denied they are responsible.

Casey was one of the most beloved broadcasters of his generation and was the host of the long running 'American Top 40', as well as the voice of Shaggy in the cartoon series Scooby-Doo.

He died at the age of 82 at St Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbour, Washington State, having been suffering from dementia.

Jean, his second wife of 34 years, had already been embroiled in a bitter row with his three children from his first marriage who alleged that she was guilty of elder abuse by not providing him with adequate care in his final months.

After Casey’s death his daughter Kerri Kasem won a restraining order from a Seattle judge to stop his body being cremated.

But as she went to serve it at the Gaffney Funeral Home in Tacoma, Washington, she was told the body was no longer there.

The death certificate drawn up by the Gaffney Funeral home says that Casey’s remains were sent to the Urgel Bourgie funeral home in Montreal on July 14.

Yvan Rodrigue, president and chief of operations of the company declined to confirm if the body was in Montreal or if it was even in his custody.

However he said that 'not uncommon' for one funeral director to 'sub-contract' services to another where they could not provide them, be it cremation or looking after the body in another country.

He said that when bodies were being held in storage they are put in a freezer which he described as a ‘special container’ and said that the coroner in Montreal had a large one it used in the morgue.

Asked if the Urgel Bourgie funeral home had such facilities, he said: 'Of course'.

Mr Rodrigue, who said he could only talk in general terms, said that sometimes people die in the winter and the family want a summer burial so they use the freezer and that legally there was ‘no time limit' as to how long it could stay there.

Bitter: Jean has been accused of 'playing games' with Casey's elder children. She is in sole control of his body in death and moved it days before Kerri won a restraining order to stop Casey's remains being cremated

As to who was in charge of Casey’s remains, however, he said that the Gaffney funeral home still had overall responsibility and pointed to its boss Corey Gaffney.

Mr Rodrigue said: 'Mr Gaffney is still in charge. He still has contact with the family.

'I have no agreement with the family. I am not the funeral director involved.'



In an interview with MailOnline Mr Gaffney said he was 'baffled' by the apparent contradiction.

Mr Gaffney had told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that he was definitely not responsible for Casey any longer.

In an interview he had said: 'What we did was made sure that Casey got to the airport, we released custody of Casey to the airline.

'The airline signed for that and acknowledged that and then at that point we returned to our office, tracked his flight to Montreal, confirmed that he had arrived, reported that to Mrs Kasem (Jean).

'When he landed in Montreal, I ceased being the funeral director in charge.'

Mr Gaffney told MailOnline that those comments still stood.

He said: 'My earlier statement...is still true and accurate today. We have no family mandate.'

Why exactly Casey’s body was taken to Montreal is unclear. Casey had no known connection to the Canadian city, his daughter Kerri has said.

A possible reason could be a bid by Jean to delay any further legal action by Kerri. By moving the body to another country, it throws up another legal barrier to Casey’s family who want his body back.

Mr Rodrigue said: 'When we are facing a difficult situation the best thing for us is to do nothing until the lawyers have found an agreement. We cannot get in the middle of a family dispute. We are stuck. We are not there to judge.'

He added that if Kerri wanted the Seattle judge’s decision to apply in Montreal she would have to make a separate legal application there too.

Casey’s death has led to bitter words from both sides.

His brother Mouner told MailOnline last week that Jean’s decision to move the body to Montreal was a 'sick joke by a sick woman'.

At a complete loss over her father's whereabouts, Kerri doesn't even know if her father may have already been buried in Los Angeles in a secret funeral service.

Adding to the drama is that Police in Santa Monica, California, where Casey had been being cared for, still want to carry out an autopsy in their investigation into the alleged elder abuse.

Santa Monica police spokesman Rudy Camarena said: 'Mr Kasem’s matter is an open and on-going investigation.

