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A former mortuary worker made nearly $11,000 selling 20 boxes of dead body parts to someone she met through an 'oddities' Facebook page, prosecutors allege

May 2, 2023, 01:09 IST
Insider
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.Danny Johnston/AP Images
  • Prosecutors allege that a former mortuary worker sold dozens of dead body parts.
  • Prosecutors allege that she connected with her buyer through Facebook.
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A former Arkansas mortuary worker made nearly $11,000 selling boxes of dead body parts to someone she met through an "oddities" Facebook page, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas allege that 36-year-old Candace Chapman Scott, who worked at a mortuary in Little Rock, Arkansas, stole body parts of cadavers that had been donated to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, according to indictment documents unsealed on Friday and viewed by Insider.

Lawyers for Scott, who according to court documents no longer works at the mortuary, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

According to court documents, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences sent donated body parts to the mortuary where Scott worked once researchers were finished with them.

But, instead of cremating the body parts, prosecutors allege that Scott sold dozens of body parts to a man in Pennsylvania who she met through an "oddities" Facebook group. Court documents did not name the specific Facebook page where Scott first met the man.

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According to court documents, prosecutors allege that Scott first reached out to the Pennsylvania man in October 2021, telling him she "LOVED" his Facebook page and asking him, "Just out of curiosity, would you know anyone in the market for a fully in tact [sic], embalmed brain?"

Prosecutors allege that over the next nine months, Scott and the man communicated via Facebook Messenger, where she is accused of selling the man embalmed body parts, including hearts, brains, genitalia, chunks of skin, ears, hands, heads, fetuses, and nipples, according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege that Scott shipped him the body parts through the United States Postal Service and made $10,975 total, which the man sent to her through 16 separate PayPal transfers, according to the indictment.

The Pennsylvania man intended to re-sell the body parts on a Facebook page called "The Grand Wunderkammer," NBC News reported, citing police and Facebook posts featuring images of bags and bones. Admins for the group did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before involving our program and it's not something we ever could have imagined," a spokesperson for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences told Insider. "We consider donors to the anatomical gift program to be true heroes and we are saddened and shocked at these thefts."

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The university said it has not been able to identify the identities of the deceased to whom the body parts belonged because the embalming process damages DNA.

Scott faces 12 criminal charges, including mail fraud, wire fraud, and interstate transportation of stolen property, according to court documents. She has pleaded not guilty, court documents seen by Insider show.

Scott is currently in jail, with a bail hearing scheduled for Tuesday, NBC News reported.

The Pennsylvania man has been charged with a misdemeanor count of abuse of a corpse, a felony and a misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property, and a felony count of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, according to court documents filed in Pennsylvania. He is currently not in jail, according to NBC News.

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