COEUR d'ALENE - The bodies of a father and son murdered March 24 in Coeur d'Alene have not yet been buried.

Eldon Samuel III, 14, is being charged as an adult with two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of his father, Eldon Samuel Jr., 46, and his younger brother, Jonathan, 13. Samuel, accused of killing them in the family's home, is being held in the Kootenai County jail.

The father's sister, Rosalie Samuel Clements, of Sunnyside, Wash., told The Press Thursday that her family is fighting to be allowed to properly bury the two victims. She cited legal issues with her brother's estranged wife, Tina McCurdy-Samuel, as the primary reason for the delay. McCurdy-Samuel, of Modesto, Calif., is the mother of the accused killer and Jonathan, the younger victim.

Clements said for the bodies to be buried or cremated, McCurdy-Samuel must provide authorization and make payment arrangements. But McCurdy-Samuel has failed to do so, Clements said, and won't give other family members permission to step in.

"I'm so mad that she is not letting us bury them," Clements wrote, in an email interview with The Press. "My dad has tried to talk to Tina McCurdy-Samuel on several occasions and she says 'I'll be there' on so many different days but she is a no-show. So I know for a fact we need to get the funerals done ourselves."

Clements said the situation has been particularly hard on her daughters.

"They loved their uncle very much," Clements said.

"I can't sleep, only for a couple of hours. When my dad (Eldon Samuel Sr.) told me (about the murders) I fell to the ground crying non-stop for hours," she said.

The father of the murdered man, Eldon Samuel Sr. of Coeur d'Alene, told The Press Thursday that his son and grandson's bodies are at English Funeral Chapels and Crematory in Coeur d'Alene.

"This thing is dragging on forever," the elder Samuel said. "It should be done already as far as I'm concerned."

Robert West, spokesperson for the Kootenai County Coroner's Office, told The Press Thursday that situations where a responsible party is unable to or won't claim and take care of burial arrangements for an identified body are infrequent.

However, West said in the event that it does occur, funeral homes are able to file for judgment through the legal system. Once that judgment is received, the funeral home is legally able to cremate and dispose of the body at a local cemetery.

Tina McCurdy-Samuel did not respond to a voicemail request for comment by The Press on Thursday.