Black market body part investigation spreads from Detroit to Chicago
- Details
- Category: Black market body parts
- Created: Friday, 16 January 2015 14:26
- Written by myFOXDetroit.com Staff
FBI agents raid a lab and crematorium in Shiller park, outside Chicago. The Biological Resource Center of Illinois deals with bodies donated to science - sending cadavers and body parts to medical schools and laboratories for research and training.
Now they say they are under federal investigation for having business dealings with Arthur Rathburn - the former coordinator of the University of Michigan's anatomical donation program from 1984 to 1990.
His business - International Biological in Detroit - was raided in December of 2013 as part of an investigation into illegal body part trading.
File photo Black market body part investigation spreads from Detroit to Chicago
That raid reportedly netted the remains of more than a thousand different people.
International Biological is currently shuttered and in April, 2014 the state of Michigan revoked the mortuary science license of Rathburn permanently.
Nobody answered at the address on file for Rathburn, but the attorney from Biological Resource Center of Illinois is distancing their company from him released a statement:
"As part of an ongoing investigation of two former biological resource center of Illinois usiness asbusinesss, the federal government and state of Arizona investigators executed search warrants today at Biological Resource Center of Illinois.
We are aware that the two organizations have been under investigation for several months, and we are cooperating with authorities to better understand the issues and provide all requested information to assist in their investigation."
Sources tell FOX 2 BRCI had sent body parts to International Biological in Detroit and parts were returned to BRCI for cremation. It is not clear why an entire year passed before the FBI raided the Chicago business.
