Posted on 01/05/2023 12:59 PM
(Credit: Reproduction/Facebook/Body Broker Crimes)
The two owners of the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado were found guilty Tuesday (1/3) of stealing and selling body parts.
According to local authorities, Megan Hess, 46, and mother Shirley Koch, 69, stole and sold hundreds of legs, arms, heads and even whole bodies from 2010 to 2018. They faced 20 and 15 years in prison respectively.
“The behavior of the defendants was appalling and morbid and motivated by greed. They took advantage of the fact that the numerous victims were vulnerable due to the recent loss of a loved one,” US Attorney Cole Finegan said in a statement.
The duo went so far as to search for relatives of some of the bodies, who asked permission to remove body parts, such as tissue and tumors, for use in research and studies. However, they ended up withdrawing more than had been approved.
“We hope these prison sentences will bring some peace to the victims’ families as they move through the grieving process,” the prosecutor said.
According to investigations, the stolen parts of the dead were shipped to buyers by mail and on commercial flights across the United States.
They even sold the bodies and body parts of people who died from infectious diseases like hepatitis and HIV to ensure the remains were diseasefree.
US broadcaster Dever7 revealed in a 2019 report that the duo charged $500, around BRL 2,725, for a head and $1,200, around BRL 6,500, for a suitcase, and that the program even charged $40,000 moved more than R$200,000 per month.
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