Officials reported that two funeral home owners in Colorado who engaged in a “horrific” practice of selling body parts or whole bodies were given prison sentences on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, Megan Hess, 46, was given a sentence of 20 years in prison and her mother Shirley Koch, 69, received a sentence of 15 years.
From 2010 through 2018, according to the prosecution, they stole and sold body parts or entire bodies while operating the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, a city of about 20,000 people in western Colorado.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the families in many cases were not informed of the situation, and in some circumstances, they chose not to give the remains of their loved ones.
The statement said that cremated remains were given back to family members under false pretences “although, frequently, that was not the case.”
To one count of mail fraud and one count of aiding and abetting, Hess and Koch entered pleas of guilty. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, hundreds of people’s bodies or body parts were stolen.
According to a plea deal entered into in her case, Hess established the Sunset Mesa Funeral Foundation in 2009 and subsequently a donor services company.
According to the agreement, the donor services company was established to sell human remains for scientific, medical, or educational purposes.
Hess’ attorneys recognized that her goals were “warped,” but they claimed that she eventually came to believe that her gifts were advancing medical research.
Koch’s attorneys described her efforts as a “misguided” attempt to support her daughter’s career in science and business.
The accused allegedly sold the remains of people who had infectious diseases while falsely certifying them as being disease-free, in addition to stealing their bodies and body parts.
Hess’ plea deal mentions instances where people whose bodies were supposed to be cremated were instead sold as legs, arms, heads, or full bodies. Some were located, while others weren’t.
Cremated remains that weren’t those of the families’ loved ones were given back to them when whole corpses were sold. The plea deal states that hundreds of whole bodies were sold.
