Casey Kasem’s Daughter in Feud With His Widow Over His Final Resting Place
There is a feud going on between the late Casey Kasem‘s widow Jean Kasem and his daughter Kerri Kasem (who followed in her father’s footsteps to become a radio and TV host). The legendary voice actor (longtime voice of Scooby-Doo‘s Shaggy) and radio host died in 2014 at the age of 82 after a battle with Lewy body dementia. After he died, Jean had his body moved to Oslo, Norway. This sparked anger in Kerri and other family members because they said that he wanted to be buried in the Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles.
Kerri said, “[Norway] is probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It’s a country that is stunning, but it’s not where my dad wanted to be. … His final wish was to be buried in California, where he had been living for 58 years.” This isn’t the first fight between Jean and Kerri. Casey and Jean married in 1980 and had one daughter together, Liberty. Casey shared three children — Kerri, Mike and Julie — with his ex-wife Linda Myers.
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After he died, his oldest children filed a lawsuit against Jean, claiming that her neglect was the reason that he died. She reportedly took him out of an assisted living facility and took him on a vacation. When he returned, he had bedsores and other maladies that the children are claiming led to his death. Jean filed a countersuit, claiming that the children were involved in Scientology and this was the reason they were angry and cut off financially. Jean claimed that the children tried to get guardianship over their father in order to “cease all life-sustaining measures” and receive his life insurance money.
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Jean alleged, “Appearing anything but grief-stricken, the Kasem sisters’ monetary motive became clear when they immediately filed a claim for a $2,100,000 life insurance policy, insuring Casey’s life. Every single allegation made by the co-conspirators against me was proven to be completely false. To this day, Liberty and I continue to grieve the loss of Casey. Our faith in God helps us through it, believing that the co-conspirators will soon be brought to justice.” Kerri denied all of the allegations. The case was eventually settled, but obviously, things are still tense.
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Kerri opened up about finally visiting her father’s resting place on the 10th anniversary of his death. She shared, “When I was walking towards his grave, I started to get a little shaky and a little emotional. When I got there, I just had a sense of peace come over me. He’s not there — he’s with me. And then I felt a little upset about the fact that he’s buried in a place he didn’t want to be. Other people would like to pay their respects … family members and fans.”
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Now, Kerri hopes to help other families in a similar situation. She founded Kasem Cares, a nonprofit organization that helps fight elder abuse. The organization is working on a “Visitation Bill,” which aims to provide “an open path for family members to ask the court to rule on visitation” of a loved one to be passed in all states. So far it has been passed in 12 states and a version of it has been passed in nine others.
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