A Lake County funeral home recently sent two bodies to a crematorium, but the two sets of ashes it got back were labeled with the same name, the funeral home’s owner said Friday.

“It was a mistake that happened and we’re very sorry about this and we regret that this happened,” said Phillip Dane, owner of Burnett-Dane Funeral Home in Libertyville. “You have thousands and thousands of families and you have one mistake and it blows everything.”

Dane said an employee at his funeral home sent the two human remains six days apart to the crematorium. When the ashes were returned, both sets had the same name on them, Dane said.

Christy Bishop, chief of special prosecutions at the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office, would not comment Friday on whether the mix-up is being investigated for possible criminal wrongdoing.

Dane would not comment on whether the remains have since been correctly identified, or answer any more questions.

Experts offered different opinions on whether the ashes can be identified.

Dr. Pravat Boonlayamgoor, DNA expert at Independent Forensics, said once human remains have been cremated, there is no chance to identity the ashes.

“It’s gone,” Boonlayamgoor said. “When it is burned to carbon, there isn’t anything left.”

He said in 20 years of working in DNA, he has never seen any human or animal DNA profile identified once it is turned to ashes.

Boonlayamgoor said he gets a call about once a year from people asking if he can help them identify the ashes that were mislabeled.

“There’s nothing we can do,” he said.

But Linda Kleppinger, a retired University of Illinois anthropology professor at Urbana Champaign, said there is a slight chance the remains could be identified.

“I presume that there is a chance that they did not have it pulverized, then yes you have a chance to be able to do something with the bone matter,” Kleppinger said.