Casey Kasem's Remains STILL Not Buried

Casey Kasem

The famed American Top 40 Countdown host passed away in June, at age 82, with a host of medical problems including advanced Lewy Body dementia.  Now, almost four months later, Casey Kasem’s remains still have not been laid to rest, according to an article by Frobes.

Kasem’s wife of more than 30 years, Jean Kasem, wasn’t exactly close with his three adult children from his first marriage.  In fact, Casey’s daughter Kerri Kasem recently said Jean would even invent bad deeds that she told Casey the children had done so he would be mad at them.

Things became ugly when Casey Kasem’s health deteriorated.  Casey’s children, other family members, and friends protested in the street when Jean Kasem did not allow them to see Casey.  When that didn’t work, Casey’s children filed conservatorship proceedings in court, eventually winning the right to visit with their father.

Until May 7th of this year, Casey was a resident in a California nursing home, where he was sustained on gastrosomy tube.  This is a tube that is surgically implanted into a patient’s stomach to provide nutrition and hydration.  It was at that time, according to a letter from Casey Kasem’s doctor, that Jean Kasem decided to take matters into her own hands.  Against doctor’s advice, and after being “informed of the risks of doing so … and placing Mr. Kasem in great bodily harm or possible demise,” Jean disconnected the feeding tube, removed him from the facility at 2:30 in the morning, and loaded him into an SUV.  Jean then drove off with Casey, not telling the rest of the family where she took him.

MacLeans photo illustration

Casey’s removal and disappearance prompted a nationwide manhunt, until Casey was located near Seattle, in the home of a friend of Jean (after a reported stop-over in Las Vegas).  Kerri Kasem had been appointed conservator by that point in California.

By then, Casey Kasem was suffering terribly, according to Kerri and the doctors.  After yet another court hearing — highlighted by another emotional outburst from Jean Kasem — the judge gave permission to remove Casey from life support.  He was pronounced dead on June 15, 2014.

But Jean didn’t take his body home to be buried.  Instead, Casey Kasem’s remains sat in the state of Washington for almost a month.  Kerri returned to court, yet again, to obtain a restraining order to allow an autopsy be performed on the body.  Kerri worried that Jean refused to return Casey’s body home to California to evade a criminal, elder abuse investigation involving Jean’s care of Casey.

Kerri’s legal team successfully obtained the restraining order.  There was only one problem — they obtained it on July 15, 2014, but Jean had her husband’s body flown to Montreal the day before.

But that still didn’t end the travels.  Jean Kasem then had Casey’s body flown to Oslo, Norway, with the apparent intention of burying him there.

Kerri and other family members and friends submitted a letter to Norwegian officials, signed by more than 20 of Casey’s family members and long-time friends, pleading that Jean not be permitted to bury him in Norway, because Casey had no connection to the country and had wished to be buried in California.

A few days ago, Kerri Kasem reported on her Twitter account that the letter and petition worked. She stated that the Norwegian funeral home refused to bury her father.

This leaves the ultimate burial of Casey Kasem’s body still in limbo.  Presently, the body rests in a hospital.

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