In a bizarre and baffling case that shocked the public, Arkansas authorities charged a woman with selling stolen body parts to a man in Pennsylvania, reports NPR. Candace Chapman Scott, a 36-year-old former mortuary worker with Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, pleaded not guilty to charges she allegedly orchestrated the transactions with Jeremy Lee Pauley, a man she met through an "oddities" Facebook group. The 12-count indictment accuses Scott of selling 20 boxes of stolen body parts for $11,000. The contents reportedly included brains, hearts, lungs, genitalia, large pieces of skin, and fetuses.
Pennsylvania officials discovered the alleged buyer, Jeremy Lee Pauley, after receiving complaints about his activities, per CBS. Detectives found various human remains in Pauley's basement, including brains, hearts, livers, skin, and lungs. Pauley now faces multiple charges in Pennsylvania, including receiving stolen property and abusing a corpse. Police allege that in October 2021, Scott approached Pauley online, offering parts of dead people originally slated for cremation, according to Arkansas Online. In a private Facebook message, she allegedly asked him if he knew "anyone in the market for a fully intact, embalmed brain?"
NPR says University of Arkansas spokesperson Leslie Taylor expressed gratitude to federal authorities for their actions in the case. Taylor reportedly said "bodies are an indispensable aid in the education of medical students," and the university is "extremely respectful of our donors when they're in our care." Scott, meanwhile, is in custody awaiting bail, with her trial slated to begin at the end of May. Pauley, who was reselling the parts on Facebook, calling himself a "preservation specialist," is on bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 7. (More weird crimes stories.)
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