A mortuary worker has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars after she sold stolen human remains to a collector online.
Candace Chapman Scott, 37, discovered a buyer for the body parts she was meant to cremate on a Facebook group, where open discussions were held about the procurement of human remains, as reported by Need To Know.
She came into contact with Jeremy Lee Pauley, 42, who bought a skull, brain, arm, ear, several lungs, hearts, breasts, a belly button, and testicles over PayPal.
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The stolen remains, from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Anatomical Gift Program, were then shipped to their buyer by post.
Chapman’s crimes were described by Judge Brian S. Miller as “some of the worst I’ve ever seen” on Thursday (January 16).
She was sentenced for transporting stolen human remains out of the state and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, having admitted to the charges in April 2024.
Prosecutors said Pauley, from Pennsylvania, purchased 24 boxes of human remains, including a baby’s foetus, between October 2021 and July 15, 2022, for a total of $10,625 (£8,674).
Chapman, from Alabama, told Pauley that the parents of the child were given the wrong ashes from another cremated body.
The family of the child, known as “Baby Lux”, expressed their horror in a press release.
Jonathan D. Ross, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said: “Imagine learning that the cremated remains of your child given to you after their death were not actually those of your child because instead, the FBI recovered the body of that child in another state.
“That is the shocking truth that happened in this case for the family of Baby Lux.”
At the sentencing hearing, Doneysha Smith, Lux’s mother, said she is haunted by “my son being sent around the mail like an Amazon package”.
The case is one part of a larger underworld criminal network that saw remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and the Arkansas mortuary.
Pauley remains on bond as he awaits his sentencing.
He has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.
A spokeswoman for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences said: “We are very respectful of those who donate their bodies, and we are appalled that such a thing could happen.”
