RENTON — King County honored 626 people at a burial ceremony Wednesday, Oct. 7, at Mt. Olivet Cemetery—the largest number of unclaimed remains included in the county’s indigent burial program to date. More than a dozen clergy members read the names aloud beneath a pavilion as about 50 people watched and placed flowers near a shared grave marker. The people buried had died in the county over roughly the past year. The group included infants and people as old as 90. The number has climbed sharply over time. The county buried 405 people last year, compared with 137 a decade ago and 86 two decades ago. Ceremonies have been held in 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026. King County Executive Girmay Zahilay said the increase could reflect several overlapping challenges, including the rising cost of living, the housing crisis, public health problems and social isolation. Fentanyl and estrangement from relatives may also play a role, officials said, but the county does not have a definitive explanation. The medical examiner’s office spends hours trying to locate relatives of people who die. When no family can be found—or relatives cannot or will not pay for burial—the remains are included in the county program. Homelessness accounts for only a fraction of those buried. James Sosik Jr., who runs the medical examiner’s indigent remains program, estimated that about 12% of the 626 people had been experiencing homelessness. Many others, he said, were people living ordinary lives while struggling financially or otherwise. The ceremony also drew people who had known some of those being remembered. Lourdes Rodriguez, who works at a SeaTac adult family home, brought flowers from her garden for Esteban Valdez, a former resident who died at 72. Rodriguez said Valdez had spent years homeless in Seattle before moving into the home, where she and a coworker became like family to him. She remembered him as funny and generous with neighbors despite having little money. Shara Sparks, a hospice social worker who has attended previous ceremonies, said the count of 626 was a shock. Sparks said many people receiving hospice care have no family, and they worry some could eventually be included in such a burial. Frank DiGirolamo, executive director of Seattle’s Operation Nightwatch, urged people to consider how to support those at risk before they die. The ceremony’s shared marker bears a message for those buried there: “Gone but not forgotten, these people of King County.”