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Meagan Heisinger desperately wants to bring her father home. She’s asking the public for help.
James Bradley Lane, who served in the Army at the tail end of Vietnam, died in 2017 at age 62. With no known next of kin to contact after his death, Lane was listed as an unclaimed veteran. The Missing in America Project, an organization that helps find unclaimed remains of veterans, recovered Lane’s remains from the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office in Tacoma, Washington. An honorable service record was verified by the Department of Veterans Affairs (Lane served from September 1974 to May 1975), and his cremated remains were interned at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake, Washington, in 2018.
Heisinger wishes to bring her father’s remains to where she lives, Littleton, Colorado, and have some connection with Lane, whom she never knew. In a GoFundMe post, Heisinger said the last time they were together was when she was a baby. Despite the mystery surrounding him, Heisinger always wanted to find her father.
“I missed out on having my father around in my life; please help me not miss out on any more time with him,” Heisinger wrote on GoFundMe.
Costly Legal Hurdles
Heisinger did an ancestry test earlier this year, but the results were complicated and confusing. Through help from an ancestry volunteer, she was able to better understand the findings and locate her father. Unfortunately, he died in 2017, but Heisinger was able to find where he was buried.
But the effort to get her father’s remains back to Colorado has proven more daunting than she expected.
“I am asking for help … I did not get the opportunity to know him and spend time with him,” Heisinger wrote. “I would really love it if he could be out here in Colorado so I can visit him whenever I would like. I need to prove next of kin before I can move him to Fort Logan Cemetery in Colorado, which will be free minus a $15 permit fee and fees for a funeral home to handle picking him up and shipping his remains in the mail to me.”
Before she can do that, however, there are several steps she must complete, and they’re costly. She said the Pierce County coroner in Washington State still has some of Lane’s DNA.
“In order to do DNA testing, I have to go to the courts and file a petition for paternity, which is gonna cost $268 to file and another $600 to do the paternity test,” Heisinger posted.
Apparently, she will also need to hire an attorney to file the proper paperwork to legally bring her dad home.
“I will have to add cost for fees for a lawyer to help me,” she said, adding that simply transporting Lane’s remains from Washington to Colorado, where the veteran spent “most of his life,” will not be cheap.
According to her GoFundMe page, Heisinger would like to raise at least $2,500.
“I am asking for more than I need for extra things like his DD214, birth certificate, death certificate, fees to mail him to me, fees from (the) funeral home to pick him up, and any other fees I may need,” she wrote.
Emotional Toil
The past few months have brought a whirlwind of emotions for Heisinger, from finally finding her father to learning he had died, to the costly struggle of trying to bring his remains home.
“I’m upset, I’m devastated,” she told KOAA News 5. “There are just no words to talk about how much it hurts. And then now I have to prove that he’s my father.”
Heisinger said the complex quagmire is almost worse than when she found out he was dead.
“Having to do all these hoops because it’s, like, I have to prove that I’m your daughter. I have to go through all these legal things, and that’s more stress … it’s hard.”
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14 Comments
The process of proving next of kin is difficult and expensive, Heisinger needs to file a petition for paternity and undergo DNA testing, which will cost $868, on top of hiring a lawyer to help with the paperwork.
It’s amazing that Heisinger was able to find her father’s burial location through an ancestry test and volunteer help, despite the complicated and confusing results at first, she’s determined to bring him home to Colorado.
Meagan Heisinger’s story is heartbreaking, she only got to be with her father when she was a baby and now she’s facing costly legal hurdles to bring his remains to Colorado, the cost of the paternity test and lawyer fees are adding up to a significant amount.
It’s devastating to think that she has to go through this process just to be able to visit her father’s remains whenever she likes, the $268 filing fee and $600 paternity test are just the beginning of her expenses.
The Washington State Veterans Cemetery where James Lane’s remains are currently interred is a long way from Littleton, Colorado, where Heisinger lives, it’s no wonder she wants to bring him closer to home.
The fact that Lane spent most of his life in Colorado makes it even more meaningful for Heisinger to bring his remains back to the state.
Heisinger’s story highlights the importance of organizations like the Missing in America Project, which help find and recover the remains of unclaimed veterans, giving them the respect and dignity they deserve.
Heisinger’s determination to bring her father’s remains to Colorado is inspiring, despite the obstacles and expenses she’s facing, she’s not giving up on her goal to have a connection with him.
Heisinger’s GoFundMe goal of $2,500 seems reasonable considering the costs involved in transporting her father’s remains from Washington to Colorado, not to mention the fees for a lawyer to help with the paperwork.
The $15 permit fee to move the remains to Fort Logan Cemetery in Colorado is relatively small compared to the other expenses she’s facing, but every bit counts.
The cost of transporting a loved one’s remains can be prohibitively expensive, Heisinger is facing significant costs just to bring her father’s remains to Colorado, it’s a wonder she’s not giving up.
It’s surprising that the Pierce County coroner in Washington State still has some of Lane’s DNA, which will be used for the paternity test, this could be a crucial step in Heisinger’s journey to bring her father home.
The fact that James Bradley Lane was listed as an unclaimed veteran after his death in 2017 is shocking, it’s a good thing that the Missing in America Project was able to recover his remains and verify his honorable service record with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Heisinger’s desire to have a connection with her father, even after his passing, is understandable, she wants to be able to visit his remains at Fort Logan Cemetery in Colorado whenever she likes, without having to travel to Washington State.