I don't doubt Europeans did this at all. These are the same people who extinguished thousands in a second in Japan, the same people who avocated for slavery, the same people who are burning the Amazon rain forest.
They are on obvious world conquest energy.
All lies to that end.
Every state is different but most give local police great "leeway" on people who die alone and intestate.
In this disconnected society, a more profitable endeavor every day and it puts civil forfeiture to shame.