Casey Kasem’s daughter seeks permission for post-mortem exam

Court records show his body remains at a funeral home in Tacoma, south of Seattle, more than a month after he died.

The late voice actor Casey Kasem, centre, with his son Mike and daughter Kerri in 2005. Amanda Edwards / Getty Images

A judge in Washington state has granted Casey Kasem’s daughter a temporary restraining order preventing the famous radio host’s wife from cremating his remains or removing them from a funeral home.

Kasem, the radio host of American Top 40 and the voice of Scooby-Doo's sidekick Shaggy, died on June 15 at a hospital in Gig Harbor. Court records show his body remains at a funeral home in Tacoma, south of Seattle, more than a month later.

Kasem suffered from a form of dementia and his three adult children from his first wife fought a bitter legal battle with Kasem’s second wife, Jean, over control of his health care in his final months.

HIs daughter Kerri Kasem asked a Pierce County Superior Court judge on Wednesday for authorisation to seek an autopsy on her father as well as a temporary restraining order to ensure his body is held in cold storage and not cremated until that autopsy is completed.

Judge Ronald Culpepper ordered Kasem’s second wife of 34 years, Jean, to ensure that the radio host’s remains are preserved and that his body stays at the funeral home ­until the court decides on the autopsy ­petition.

Kerri Kasem said she is worried that her stepmother may prevent the autopsy by having his remains moved to Canada or cremated, according to the statement she filed in court.

She said she learnt from the director of the funeral home that Jean Kasem planned to have an autopsy done and that worried her because she wondered why it was ­needed.

“I’m concerned about the results of any autopsy Jean Kasem may have commissioned and how they might be used,” Kerri Kasem wrote. “Consequently, I thought it would be best to ask the Washington Court to allow me to have an autopsy conducted by a forensic pathologist of my own selection.” A hearing has been scheduled for Friday on the autopsy petition.