An American woman has described the horrific moment police informed her they had discovered her father's severed head in a storage facility, alongside over a hundred other bodies, after he believed he had donated his remains to medical science.
A Final Selfless Act Betrayed
Harrold Dillard, aged 56, passed away from cancer on Christmas Eve in 2009. In his final month at a hospice, he was approached by a firm named BioCare, which asked if he would consider donating his body so doctors could practise knee replacement surgery.
"His eyes lit up," his daughter, Farrah Fasold, recalled. "He viewed that as lessening the burden on his family. Donating his body was the last selfless thing he could do." The family were assured any unused parts would be cremated and his ashes returned to them at no cost.
Within hours of his death, his body was collected from the hospice. Months later, Farrah received a devastating phone call from a detective. "I was completely hysterical," she said. "We would have never have signed up if they had ever said anything about selling body parts – no way. That’s not what my dad wanted at all."
The Sinister Trade in Human Remains
The detective revealed the bodies had been "dismembered by a coarse cutting instrument, such as a chainsaw". Authorities believed his remains had been taken by a company that acquires cadavers, uses what it needs, and sells the rest on for profit, rather than honouring the promise of cremation.
This practice is known as "body brokering". The companies involved often call themselves "non-transplant tissue banks". While many legitimate institutions accept donations for science, these brokers act as middlemen, signing agreements with donors only to sell the bodies on after death.
Ms Fasold is convinced her father's body was brutally mutilated and treated without the respect he was promised. "I would close my eyes at night and see huge red tubs filled with body parts. I had insomnia. I wasn't sleeping," she told the BBC.
A Largely Unregulated 'Free-for-All'
Each year, thousands of Americans donate their bodies believing they will aid medical research or education. Tragically, many unwittingly become raw material in a sprawling, largely unregulated national market.
According to a Reuters investigation, these body brokers are distinct from the tightly regulated organ transplant industry. While selling hearts or kidneys for transplant is illegal, no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for research or education.
Few states have laws providing oversight, meaning almost anyone can dissect and sell human remains. "The current state of affairs is a free-for-all. We are seeing similar problems to what we saw with grave-robbers centuries ago," said Angela McArthur, who directs the body donation programme at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
For Farrah Fasold, the reality was a cruel betrayal of her father's final wish. His intended act of generosity became a commodity in a shadowy trade, leaving his family with a legacy of trauma instead of peace.
