{UAH} IF YOU THINK THAT ALLAN BARIGYE'S FASCINATION WITH OUR GRAVES MAKES HIM A TERRIBLE WEIRDO BARIGYE IS ACTUALLY NOT ALONE OUT THERE Part 2

Former Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 20 years for selling body parts from over 500 corpses

By Isabel Keane

January 4, 2023 3:14pm 

Megan Hess and her mother dissected approximately 560 corpses between 2010 and 2018 and sold the body parts to medical training companies.REUTERS

A former Colorado funeral home director who dissected over 500 corpses and sold body parts without the consent of grieving relatives has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Megan Hess, 46, and her mother dissected some 560 corpses between 2010 and 2018, selling body parts to medical training companies that didn’t know they had been illegally obtained.

Her mother, Shirley Koch, 69, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for helping chop up the bodies, the Colorado Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Hess operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, as well as a body parts business, Donor Services, from the same building in Montrose, Colorado.

She pleaded guilty to fraud in July, and received the maximum sentence allowed under the law.

The pair would frequently charge grieving families upwards of $1,000 for cremation services that never took place. Instead, they would harvest body parts or prepare the entire bodies to be sold.

Megan Hess pleaded guilty to fraud in July Denver Post via Getty Images

Shirley Koch was sentenced to 15 years in jail for helping chop up the bodies.Denver Post via Getty Images

“Hess and Koch used their funeral home at times to essentially steal bodies and body parts using fraudulent and forged donor forms,” prosecutor Tim Neff said in a court filing.

“Hess and Koch’s conduct caused immense emotional pain for the families and next of kin.”

In most instances, Hess and Koch did not ask or receive permission to donate the decedents’ bodies or body parts for body broker services. Other times, Hess and Koch would ask the families to donate the body or body parts and be rejected.

Megan Hess operated a funeral home, Sunset Mesa, as well as a body parts business, Donor Services.REUTERS

Even after being told “no,” they would recover body parts or prepare the entire body to be sold. In some instances where families agreed to donation, Hess and Koch would sell remains far beyond what the family consented to, prosecutors said.

Hess and Koch would also deliver cremains to families under the assertion that they were of the deceased, when the ashes were phony. Prosecutors said Hess lied to over 200 families who received cremated ashes from bins of the mixed remains of different cadavers.

They also shipped bodies and body parts from people carrying infectious diseases, including hepatitis B and C and HIV, while telling buyers the remains carried no disease.

Family members of Hess and Koch’s victims stand outside the courthouse during the duo’s sentencing.Denver Post via Getty Images

Prosecutors called their crimes one of the most significant body part cases in recent US history.

“This is the most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench,” US District Judge Christine M. Arguello said during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

“It’s concerning to the court that defendant Hess refuses to assume any responsibility for her conduct.”

Arguello ordered Hess and Koch to be sent to prison immediately.

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