KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsState of Iowa can help pay for crime victims' funerals

The violent death of a family member is traumatic enough, and paying for a funeral only makes it more difficult. Dale Meyer of Meyer Brothers Funeral Homes says, "It can be somewhere maybe as low as $5,000. It could go to $7,000 or $8,000."

When a family member is murdered, Iowans have the opportunity to apply to be reimbursed... up to 75-hundred dollars for funeral, cremation or burial fees.

Iowa's Crime Victim Compensation Program is sustained by state and federal criminal fines and penalties. Marti Anderson, Director of the Crime Victim Assistance Program, says, "I think it's important to know that this is not taxpayer money. That crime victims... if we don't pay these bill, crime victims have to pay for them themselves." Or in the case of murder... the victim's family.

To receive the reimbursement, families must report the crime within two years, then apply to the state. To be eligible, the victim must not have been committing a crime that could have led to their murder.

Program Director Marti Anderson says most Iowa murder cases are approved for compensation... and the state pays for about 60 to 80 every year. Marti Anderson, Director of the Crime Victim Assistance Program, says, "We think it's a real good case of justice in that we collect money from criminals and use it to help defray the burden of victimization."

Because when a loved one is taken away... money should be the last thing on your mind. Dale Meyer of Meyer Brothers Funeral Homes says, "It's always that sudden unexpected death and the trauma of that death that are pretty traumatic for families."

Marti Anderson says reimbursement for families, or funeral homes, takes about two months. The Crime Victim Compensation Program also covers vehicular manslaughter cases.