26-Year-Old Man Charged with Littering After Allegedly Dumping Woman’s Cremated Remains with 500-Lb. Trash Pile

The cremated remains of a woman who died in 2024 were discovered in a large pile of illegally dumped trash in Punta Gorda, Fla.

On Oct. 30, Charlotte County Sheriff officers responded to a location where they found a trash pile weighing more than 500 pounds, according to ABC7. Among the debris was a bag clearly labeled as containing cremated human remains.

Daniel Rolando, 26, has been charged with one felony count of littering over 500 lbs. of commercial or hazardous waste, per ABC7.

Gulf Coast News reported that the remains were identified as those of 39-year-old Nina Monica Brown, who died in 2024.

Resident Heather Lemcool told the outlet that the ashes were found inside a box and a plastic bag, rather than an urn. “Her name, day to day, date of birth and date of death, and the funeral home was all on this ID card attached to the ashes,” she said.

Gulf Coast News also reported that most of the trash belonged to an unidentified Sarasota woman whose storage unit had been auctioned off on Oct. 16 after she defaulted on her contract. She said she does not know how the cremated remains ended up there.

Authorities spoke with a storage unit employee who confirmed that the winner of the auction was Rolando, the 26-year-old suspect.

Investigators stated, per ABC7, that surveillance footage and records showed Rolando purchased two units at the auction. He allegedly admitted to dumping the items he did not want.

Officers arrested Rolando when he returned to the site to clean up the trash pile, ABC7 reported.

He has since been released on bond, according to NewsBreak.

Brown’s friend Precious Tunstall told Wink News that Brown, a mother of four, battled sickle cell disease and had long defied predictions about her lifespan. “They told her that she would never bear children. She had four beautiful children, two girls, two boys, and she did everything that she had to do to provide for those babies,” Tunstall said.

Tunstall hopes to retrieve the remains and return them to Brown’s family. “It was very inconsiderate of him to just dump her on the side of the road,” she said. “I would like to have her ashes back, her remains back, so her children can have her remains.”