A former funeral home owner has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars after it emerged that she was selling body parts.
When a loved one passes away, it should be assumed that their body will be cared for to the highest of standards by those trusted to do so.
However, in the instance of two former funeral home owners in Colorado, it has come to light that they were profiting illegally by selling body parts - sometimes entire bodies - to unknowing medical training companies, per BBC News.
Megan Hess, 46, owned the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in the town of Montrose where she charged grieving families up to $1,000 for cremations that would never take place.
According to the prosecutors, she would also haggle with families that their loved ones would be cremated for free if they donated body parts from the deceased.
The BBC reports that, with the help of her 69-year-old mother Shirley Koch, 560 corpses were dissected between 2010 and 2018.
Using forged donor forms without consent, body parts including arms, legs, and heads were sold through Donor Services - Hess' side business that operated from the same premises.
As reported by the Guardian, Hess pleaded guilty to fraud in July and received the maximum term of 20 years behind bars, with her mother being sentenced to 15.
In the United States, it is illegal to sell organs for transplant as they must be donated - but selling body parts such as heads, arms, and spines for use in research is not regulated by federal law, and Hess capitalized upon this.
Families of those dissected by the mother and daughter duo testified against them in court with Erin Smith saying: "Our sweet mother, they dismembered her. We don’t even have a name for a crime this heinous."
Prosecutors stated that Hess lied to the families who entrusted their deceased loved ones with her and that instead of receiving the correct ashes, they would receive cremated ashes from different cadavers alongside ashes found in bins.
US district judge Christine M. Arguello referred to the case as: "The most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench."
Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by these crimes.
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