An Arkansas woman who lifted body parts from a morgue and mailed them off to a buyer out of state was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison.
Candace Chapman, 37, nabbed the parts from the mortuary where she worked in 2021 and 2022, then made her sales over Facebook, accepting payment via PayPal and shipping her packages using the United States Postal Service.
Chapman was working at a mortuary that handled cremation of bodies donated for study by medical students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science.
A press release from the office of Jonathan Ross, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, provides an overview:
The investigation revealed that Scott met the Pennsylvania purchaser through a Facebook group that openly discussed the sale of body parts. Ultimately, Scott sent the purchaser 24 boxes containing stolen human remains that she acquired at the mortuary provider, including two fetuses. Scott acknowledged in communications with the purchaser that ashes from other cremated bodies would be returned to the parents of the deceased fetuses, instead of ashes from their child.
The remains included a skull, multiple brains, an arm, an ear, multiple lungs, multiple hearts, multiple breasts, a belly button, testicles, and other parts. During a search warrant executed at Scott’s Little Rock home, investigators found numerous stolen body parts that she admitted she transported in trash bags from her work. Scott received a total of $10,625 from the purchaser in Pennsylvania for the human remains.
“Imagine learning that the cremated remains of your child given to you after their death were not actually those of your child, because instead the FBI recovered the body of that child in another state. That is the shocking truth that happened in this case for the family of “Baby Lux,” stated Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “Baby Lux was named ‘Lux Siloam,’ which means ‘light sent,’ and now his light has illuminated an evil and dark underworld of criminals who engage in the trafficking of stolen human bodies and body parts. And with help from the powerful testimony of Baby Lux’s mother and grandmother at yesterday’s sentencing hearing, the criminal responsible for the theft and trafficking of the bodies and body parts of many Arkansas victims, including Baby Lux, has been held accountable. Let today’s sentence stand as a warning to anyone else committing these crimes that our office will spare no effort to find you, arrest you, and seek the harshest penalty under the law.”
Previous reporting done since Chapman’s 2023 arrest includes details of how Chapman found her buyer, Jeremy Pauley of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
Pauley, who looks exactly like you expect someone who buys body parts on Facebook would look, admitted to buying human body parts from both Chapman and from others who stole cadaver parts from Harvard Medical School. He has since pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property but is still awaiting sentencing.
Pauley’s museum and business that feature preserved body parts of both human and animal origins appears to still be in operation. And the Facebook page for his business is still busy.
