Investigators have found 12 bodies inside a Weymouth storage facility, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley’s office. The search came as officials continue to investigate Joseph V. O’Donnell, a former funeral director charged with stealing $12,000 from an elderly couple.

Earlier in the evening, Conley’s office said “multiple sets of adult remains’’ were found in the storage unit, but updated the number of bodies by late Thursday evening. The new discovery comes just one day after investigators found cremated remains in a Somerville storage facility linked to O’Donnell.

“Our top priority right now is determining the identity of the remains we’ve discovered,’’ Conley said in the Thursday afternoon statement. “We’ve seized records and documents that could help us locate those people’s families, but this will be a time- and labor-intensive task.’’


According to the DA’s office, the couple purchased pre-arrangement services for funerals from O’Donnell. But when they tried to use one of the funeral services purchased for another family member, they found that O’Donnell’s funeral parlor had closed, and he would not refund the money.

O’Donnell is currently in police custody. His license to operate a funeral parlor had lapsed in 2008, according to the DA’s office.