Horror as remains of 10 foetuses and an infant found hidden at former funeral home in Detroit

Police in Detroit are investigating after the remains of 10 foetuses and one infant were found hidden in the ceiling of a former funeral home, which lost its licence when decomposing embalmed bodies were found there earlier this year.

Officials said they would file a criminal complaint against the owners of Cantrell Funeral Home after the shocking discovery on Friday.

An anonymous letter led state inspectors to the decomposed remains hidden between the eastside building's first and second floors.

The foetuses were found together in a cardboard-like box while the full-term infant was in a coffin, Police Chief James Craig said.

He added: "They were definitely hidden. The way they were placed in ceiling, one would not have readily discovered them. In 41 years in policing, this is first time I've heard of anything like this."

The remains were taken to the Wayne County medical examiner's office which is coordinating efforts with authorities "to hopefully get them identified and families identified," spokeswoman Lisa Croff said.

"We have very little to go on (without) cooperation from the funeral home owners. Everything is under investigation."

No arrests have been made.

Cantrell Funeral Home was shut down and had its mortuary license suspended in April after decomposing embalmed bodies were found and other violations were discovered.

The suspension has not been appealed and the investigation from earlier this year remains ongoing, said Jason Moon, a spokesman for Michigan's Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

Those violations include two improperly stored bodies covered in what appeared to be mould and a third body with unknown fluids covering the facial area. Inspections also turned up an unsanitary embalming room.

The establishment also was operating with an expired prepaid funeral and cemetery sales registration. The state says money for prepaid funeral goods or services had not been deposited with an authorised escrow agent within 30 days of receipt.

Raymond Cantrell told reporters at the time that some bodies were stored in the garage "so that we wouldn't have an aroma filling up the funeral home."

"If I had them in the funeral home, then my funeral home would not smell fresh," he said.

The building's new owner, Naveed Syed, said one of the funeral home's directors called him last week "saying that the state of Michigan has contacted him when someone wrote them a letter saying that there are some bodies hidden in the ceiling here."

He called the discovery "gruesome".

"The priority is to find out the next of kin for all those babies. And why they did it. And what actually happened and who did it," Mr Syed said Monday, who had bought the building last month and planned to refurbish the property to turn it into a community centre.

"We were looking for a building in this area for the last year or so," he added. "And when we got the news that this funeral home was closed, we decided that this would be an ideal location."

Attempts were made to contact Raymond Cantrell who owned the funeral home but reporters could not find a telephone listing for him.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.