Arizona’s Biological Resource Center closed its doors in 2014, but new court documents give shockingly grim details about the hidden horrors found inside the now-defunct facility.
In what the Arizona Republic newspaper called a declaration in the court file, former FBI Assistant Special Agent Mark Cwynar said he observed buckets filled with human heads, arms and legs at the building near University Drive in Phoenix.
But the horrors didn’t stop there.
Cwynar also recalled seeing a cooler packed with penises, and several body parts piled on top of each other with no apparent identification as to which bodies they came from. His most gruesome discovery was a body “with the head removed and replaced with a similar head sewn together in a Frankenstein manner.”
As reported by ABC 15 Arizona, the FBI raided the body-donor facility in 2014 after the company faced several accusations of dismembering donate bodies and selling the parts for profit. BRC was among at least four body donation corporations operating out of Arizona at the time.
At least eight families are now suing the facility for mishandling the corpses of their loved ones, whose bodies they thought they’d donated in the name of medical research. The complaints also allege breach of contract and negligent referral, among other violations, according to the outlet
“They’d put prices on what they’d sell heads for or what they’d sell ligaments for,” attorney
Michael Burg, who’s representing the families, said in 2015.
A federal search warrant states that the asking price for a head was $500, while arms were $750. A foot came with a $450 price tag and whole body could run a buyer upwards $5,000.
“I’ve never seen something so horrific, to take advantage or people who are grieving and vulnerable,” Burg added.
The facility’s owner, Stephen Gore, pleaded guilty to “illegal control of an enterprise” in October 2015 and was sentenced to one year of deferred jail time and four years probation. Gore was also ordered to pay about $121,000 in restitution.
Gore is scheduled to appear in court later this year to face the families who’ve filed lawsuits against him and Biological Resource Center.