Woman Is Attempting to Bring Her Father’s Remains Home After He Was Buried as an Unclaimed Veteran

Meagan Heisinger has spent years wanting to find her father, James Bradley Lane — a man she says she hadn’t seen since she was a baby.

This year, she wrote on a GoFundMe page, an ancestry test helped change that. With guidance from an “ancestry angel” — a volunteer who helps people understand their results — Heisinger said she was finally able to locate her dad. What she learned next hit hard: Lane had died and was buried at Washington State Veterans Cemetery (WSVC) in Medical Lake as an unclaimed veteran.

Now, Heisinger says she’s trying to bring her father’s remains back to Colorado so she can visit him.

“I am asking for help … I did not get the opportunity to know him and spend time with him,” she wrote on the fundraiser.

“I would really love it if he could be out here in Colorado so I can visit him whenever I would like,” she added.

Legal steps, DNA testing — and rising costs

Heisinger says moving forward won’t be simple. Before she can arrange for her father’s remains to be transferred, she says she has to take legal steps to prove their relationship.

“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,” she wrote.

She also said she may need an attorney to help her navigate the paperwork — another cost she expects to add.

Beyond the court process, Heisinger said there are significant fees connected to bringing her father’s remains to Colorado, where she says he “spent most of his life.”

How his remains were found

According to Find a Grave, an online cemetery records platform, Lane’s body was recovered by Missing in America Project (MIAP) volunteers, a group that works to locate unclaimed remains of veterans.

“After his honorable military service was verified by the Department of Veteran Affairs, he was interred at WSVC with military honors on [Sept. 13, 2018],” the database states.

“I have to prove that he’s my father”

Speaking to KOAA News 5, Heisinger described the news as crushing — not only learning her father was gone, but realizing how complicated it may be to bring him home.

“I’m upset, I’m devastated. There’s just no words to talk about how much it hurts. And then now I have to prove that he’s my father,” she said.

“It’s almost worse than finding out that he’s dead,” she continued. “Having to do all of 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.”