Unclaimed Corpses Crowd L.A. County's Morgue

Unprecedented morgue overcrowding is forcing coroner's workers to stack bodies, move them into hallways for brief periods of time, and speed the transfer of corpses to the county crematorium. The morgue is designed to hold up to 350 bodies, but 415 were being stored there at last count. The highest tally, 447 bodies, was reached a few months ago. Officials attributed today's record census to population growth, illegal immigration, familial estrangement, and poverty. Some bodies have been at the morgue for nine months. In the 1980s, the maximum body count was typically 250, and in the 1990s the number rose to about 300. Larry talks with Hector Becerra, L.A. Times Staff Writer, and Tony Bell, Spokesman for Supervisor Mike Antonovich.