- Title: USA: Casey Kasem's daughter talks about dispute over his body
- Date: 6th September 2014
- Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) KERRI KASEM SAYING: "I mean, I guess that's the million dollar question, is why she does what she does. I don't know. I don't know. I wish I could tell you. I mean, this is a woman who taped my dad moaning and crying because she didn't give him any pain medication on that three weeks she had
- Embargoed: 21st September 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVA9AM6II7VGYELM697L3Q9VQTLV
- Story Text: Kerri Kasem, the daughter of the late American radio personality Casey Kasem is embroiled with his widow over where his body will be buried in the latest twist in a legal battle stemming from his end-of-life care.
Jean Kasem, Casey Kasem's widow, intends to have his body buried in Norway, a move that his children from his first marriage, Kerri, Julie, and Mike, oppose.
"Twenty of his closest friends and family members signed a petition saying please don't let my father be buried in Oslo, Norway. He's never mentioned Norway, his wife is not Norwegian," said Kerri Kasem, in a recent interview in Beverly Hills. Kerri Kasem is one of the three children from Casey Kasem's first marriage.
Jean Kasem, the former "American Top 40" deejay's second wife, has indicated her late husband, who died in June, will be buried in the Nordic country, though it is not known when that will take place.
But his daughter is now speaking out that the golden-voiced radio pioneer had wanted to be buried in Los Angeles - and that he expected a fight over his remains might occur.
"My father told me, my brother and my sister, my father told his family and friends he wanted to be buried in Forest Lawn in California, his home of 53 years. We haven't seen a will, an estate plan, we haven't seen any of that so we don't know if it was in there, we have no idea," says Kerri Kasem, adding, "My dad was afraid something like this would happen."
"He's American. He was in the Korean War, American Top 40. He wanted to be buried here in America."
Casey Kasem died on June 15, aged 82, in Washington state after suffering from Lewy Body disease, a form of dementia with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. The end of his life was marked by a legal dispute over his care between Jean Kasem and her three step-children.
They have accused Jean Kasem of abusing their father, who was suffering from bedsores at the end of his life, and preventing them from contacting him for a lengthy period.
"I know what was happening and that's going to come out in court. There's an ongoing investigation right now, it's open," says Kerri Kasem.
"The last few months of his life are horrific."
In May, Jean Kasem had her husband moved to a hospital in Washington state, where he remained while the legal battle over his care raged. His death there about a month later led to a dispute over the disposal of his remains.
Jean Kasem, who was married to Casey Kasem for almost 25 years and bore him a daughter, had the body removed from the funeral home in Washington state and taken to Canada before a court order was issued for an autopsy to be performed.
Kerri Kasem and her siblings have hired a private detective to keep tabs on her stepmother and her father's remains.
"I mean, I guess that's the million dollar question, is why she does what she does," she says. "I mean, this is a woman who taped my dad moaning and crying because she didn't give him any pain medication on that three weeks she had him after she ripped him from a nursing home. My dad had a stage three bed sore, a bladder infection and lung infection and she didn't give him any medication. There was no pain killers when I got him to the hospital. None."
In the meantime, Kerri Kasem is working with California state lawmakers to pass AB 2034, the so-called "Visitation Bill," a law moving through the California Senate that protects family members' rights to visit with the elderly or terminally ill.
"So many families are split apart by people like my stepmother. they're split apart the last months of life, the last year of life, the last days of life and you never get to say goodbye and you never get to put your arms around that person and tell them I love you before they die. And that is not okay. It's a human right to see your family," says Kerri Kasem.
At the peak of his career on "American Top 40," Kasem was heard on more than 1,000 stations in 50 countries. He also voiced the character Shaggy on the "Scooby Doo" cartoon mysteries series.
Attorneys and spokespersons for Jean Kasem have not offered comment on the circumstances surrounding the fight over Casey Kasem's remains. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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