A Hells Angels member is being accused of using his connections at a funeral home to incinerate the body of someone in the biker gang, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Merl Hefferman, a member of the Hells Angels biker gang, requested four bodies to be illegally cremated at a funeral home that the group nicknamed the “pizza oven,” the outlet reported. Prosecutors alleged that Hefferman ordered the cremation of Joel Silva, a former member of Hells Angels. (RELATED: Serial Killers Get 160 Years In Prison, Lured Victims Through Dating Apps)
“Merl Hefferman arranged to have Joel Silva’s body illegally cremated. This was purposeful, premeditated conduct,” prosecutors wrote. “He also caused immense pain to Silva’s family: they had no body to mourn, no closure, and no certainty about what had happened to Silva until … nearly eight years after Silva disappeared.”
Hells Angels member Merl Hefferman is accused of illegally cremating four bodies in Fresno mortuary known as ‘the pizza oven’ to ‘make them disappear’
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Three other members of the Hells Angels were convicted of murdering Silva. Two members were convicted for helping to plan and facilitate the murder. One other member was convicted for shooting Silva in the head.
Two Hells Angels members, Robbie Huff and Art Carasis, went missing in the aftermath of the cremation. Huff helped cover up Silva’s murder, according to the outlet.
Levi Phipps, the funeral home director, reportedly claimed to prosecutors that he had no clue whose bodies were being burned. He claims that Hefferman asked for his help to dispose of the bodies.
Phone records show that Phipps and Hefferman contacted each other right around the time of the disappearances.
“The nearly identical pattern of contact between Hefferman and Phipps near the time of both the Silva murder and Huff disappearance is powerful corroboration for Phipps’ grand jury testimony,” prosecutors wrote.
Hefferman’s attorneys say that the call records are not enough to tie him to the murders.
“The bottom line is if it is information not credible or sufficient to indict by way of grand jury, then it is not sufficiently reliable to consider for sentencing,”
Hefferman’s sentencing is set for Thursday.