By Makenna Sievertson / LAist
Originally published on Dec. 11, 2025
Hundreds of people gathered at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights Thursday to honor more than 2,300 Angelenos whose bodies have not been claimed by loved ones.
Officials say it was the highest number of people laid to rest during the annual Ceremony of the Unclaimed Dead over the past 45 years.
The remains were those of adults and children, some of whom had experienced homelessness, and who were immigrants far from home. Several of the people had struggled with physical and mental illnesses.
All of them died in 2022, about two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. The bodies were cremated and placed in a communal grave ahead of the ceremony, which has been a county tradition since 1896.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said the unclaimed Angelenos may be strangers to those observing the ceremony, but they were our neighbors, too.
“They may have walked the same streets we did, waited at the same bus stops, enjoyed the same warm sunny days, even ones in mid-December like today,” Hahn said during the ceremony. “Like all of us, they hoped, they hurt, they dreamed — and too many endured more suffering and loneliness than anyone should.”
This report is reprinted with permission from Southern California Public Radio. © 2026 Southern California Public Radio. All rights reserved.
