The National Police dismantles a criminal organization linked to the illegal sale of corpses in Valencia
National Police agents have dismantled a criminal network in Valencia that was dedicated to the illegal sale of corpses. They have arrested those responsible for the funeral home involved, as well as two of its employees, as alleged perpetrators of a crime of fraud. Likewise, two of them are also charged with the crime of falsifying documents.
According to the investigation, the detainees falsified documentation to be able to remove the bodies from hospitals and residences in order to later sell them to universities for study for 1,200 euros each body. They invoiced 5,040 euros to a university for carrying out 11 cremations of bodies, once studied, which were not included in the invoices issued by any of the incinerators operating in the city.
The investigation began in early 2023 after detecting the irregular removal of a corpse from a hospital morgue by a funeral home.
The investigation was launched at the beginning of 2023 after the agents learned that the body of a deceased person had been removed from the morgue of a hospital irregularly by a funeral home, for which falsifications had been made in the book. registration thereof, as well as in the documentation provided to the Civil Registry.
Investigators verified that two funeral home employees, after falsifying documents, had appropriated a body that was in the hospital morgue and transferred it to a university for study instead of burying it. The deceased should have been buried in the town of his residence in a charity burial paid for by the town council of said Valencian town, however he was sold for study for almost 1,200 euros, without any family member or friend having given consent.
Deaths without relatives
The agents located another case with the same modus operandi. This time the deceased was admitted to a nursing home and, apparently, it was the man himself, three days before his death, who had supposedly authorized the donation of his body.
In this case, the researchers were able to verify that the man’s mental abilities were impaired shortly before he died as he suffered from severe cognitive impairment, which would not have allowed him to understand what the donation entailed. Furthermore, said donation was signed so that the body would be sent to a certain medical school, eventually being taken to another, which paid more money for it. To do this, they managed to get health personnel to sign the change of destination of the body by deception.
Those investigated were looking for deceased people who did not have family members, preferably foreigners or who had had precarious living conditions in life to carry out the irregularities, since this ensured that no follow-up was done on said donations by a family member. They thus sought greater impunity.
Irregularities in the cremations of bodies that had supposedly been donated to science
On the other hand, and continuing with the investigations, the agents found out that irregularities had also occurred in the cremations of the bodies that had supposedly been donated to science. Apparently, once the universities had completed their studies, they had to pay for the cremations, with the funeral home itself taking care of them.
After several efforts, the agents found out that the funeral company had invoiced a university 5,040 euros for 11 cremations, which were not reflected in the invoices issued by any of the incinerators operating in Valencia.
It seems that those investigated took advantage of the dissection and dismemberment of the bodies to place them in the coffins of other deceased persons, carrying out the incineration of several corpses in a single cremation. They thus saved themselves paying for them and at the same time invoiced the university, obtaining benefits from this practice.
The University of Valencia is not among those affected
The University of Valencia has responded to this information to ensure that it has not been affected by this case: “We work with safe protocols for accepting corpses for teaching and research. The Faculty of Medicine and Oncology does not buy corpses, but rather accepts living donations, after compliance with rigorous requirements.”
