SEABROOK, N.H. (AP) – A lawyer for the former owner of Bayview Crematory says police have no evidence Derek Wallace committed any crimes at the crematorium or at two Massachusetts funeral homes he owns.

Lawyer Scott Gleason blamed authorities for creating mass hysteria among people who fear they didn’t get their loved one’s remains. He told The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass., that there’s no evidence multiple bodies were cremated in the same oven.

New Hampshire State Police raided Bayview in February and said they found a dozen sets of remains without identification, two bodies in the same oven and a decomposing body in a broken refrigeration unit. Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams has said four sets of remains may never be identified.

The business is being sued by a group of four Maine families who claim the crematorium mishandled their loved ones’ remains. The lawsuit, filed this month in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland, Maine, seeks money for negligence and emotional distress from the crematorium’s owners, its former owner, and several funeral homes and directors.

New Hampshire and Massachusetts state police recently raided the two Massachusetts funeral homes owned or partly owned by Wallace. They also raided Wallace’s home and the home of his mother and stepfather, who now own Bayview.

Gleason said if Reams has evidence of wrongdoing, he should charge Wallace with a crime – but so far no charges have been filed.

Reams said that would change in the next few weeks, after he met with state police last week to review evidence seized in the raids.

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