Body parts from NM found in Kansas

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Seven heads and at least a dozen body parts, some of which came from New Mexico, were found recently in a Kansas City company that incinerates medical waste.

A week and a half ago, a head and torso showed up at an incinerator in Kansas City. The body parts were from different people.

They were discovered at Stericycle, a company that disposes of medical waste by burning it and taking it to the landfill. The company does not handle body parts.

By the time workers realized it, the head and torso had already gone through the incinerator.

The medical examiner said the body parts were packaged with labels from an Albuquerque business called Bio Care. Bio Care is a non-profit company that collects and distributes bodies donated for science.

Police in Kansas City then intercepted a truck carrying more body parts that was heading to Stericycle.

There were six heads, at least a dozen limbs and lots of tissue in drums with the Bio Care label. One of the body parts still had a tag on it from the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque.

OMI said it has no bodies missing, and that it only releases bodies to funeral homes or family members.

Albuquerque police investigated Bio Care and shut down their office near Interstate 25 and Alameda for one day. BioCare's owner said all of his company's bodies are accounted for. He said they don't ship bodies out of state and they only use a local crematorium. Once research is complete, Bio Care cremates bodies and returns them to families.

Police looked into fraud charges and the legality of how the bodies were shipped. The owner of Bio Care was charged with three counts of fraud.

It is easier to find out what laws were broken once the bodies are identified and the police figure out who shipped them.

Stericycle, the company in Kansas City, told police it doesn't know if it has incinerated more bodies without realizing it. If that did happen, the ashes would end up at the landfill.