A Pennsylvania man has been arrested after human remains were discovered at his home.
Jeremy Pauley, 40, of Enola was arrested as part of a business in body parts that came from a mortuary at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science, according to the New York Post.
According to court documents cited by WPMT-TV in York, Pennsylvania, an employee of the mortuary sold bones and other body parts to Pauley. As of Sunday, that employee had not been charged with any crime.
Pauley allegedly purchased about $4,000 worth of parts, according to CBS News.
The shipment included half a head, a whole head, three brains, a heart, a liver, a lung, two kidneys, a female pelvis, a torso with a nipple, and four human hands, according to the WPMT.
Jeremy Pauley allegedly bought remains from a woman in Arkansas, which included a half a head, three brains with a skull cap, one heart, and more. https://t.co/1GLpaiZaz0
— True Crime Daily (@CrimeWatchDaily) August 19, 2022
Pauley, owner of The Grand Wunderkammer — a shop that boasts that it deals in oddities — then sold the items online through a Facebook page, according to police.
The store’s Facebook pages bills it as “Vendors of the odd and unusual, museum exhibits, guest lectures, live entertainment, and so much more! Strange, curious, and unique in every way possible!”
Does this case show true contempt for human life?
Pauley, who was arrested Thursday, according to Fox News, was charged with abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property, and dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity.
Police were tipped off when they received a report of possible human remains in multiple buckets in Pauley’s basement, according to WGAL-TV in Lancaster.
They first visited Pauley’s home after the tip June 14, according to WPMT. Pauley said he was a collector of oddities and acknowledged possessing three human skeletons and 15 to 12 human skulls, the station reported.
However, the items appeared to be “very old” and Pauley seemed to have acquired them legitimately, the WPMT report states.
Police received a second tip July 8, reporting that Pauley had been purchasing human remains and had buckets of “human skin” and “human organs” in his basement, WPMT reported.
Police then searched the home with a warrant and found “three to five buckets containing suspected human remains,” WPMT reported.
They then followed a trail of Facebook messages to learn that the human remains were purchased from Arkansas and shipped via U.S. mail to Pennsylvania.
One package of body parts was intercepted in Scranton, according to WPMT.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Science released a statement declaring it was “saddened and appalled” by the news of the sales.
“An employee of the mortuary service is under investigation by federal authorities for taking some human remains from the mortuary that were donated to UAMS. We are saddened and appalled that this happened,” the statement said, noting that the remains were donated for use by medical students.
Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack acknowledged how unusual the case is.
“I think I’ve seen it all, and then something like this comes around,” he said, according to CBS.
“The question we had to answer was, ‘Is the sale of body parts or bones and remains illegal … or legal?’ Some of it, to our surprise, was legal. And as the investigation went on, it became clear there was illegal activity going on as well,” he said.
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