The director of a funeral home in Colorado was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for charges including fraud, after illegally selling bodies or body parts from more than 500 victims without the consent of their families.
“Koch and Hess neither discussed nor obtained authorization for donation of decedents’ bodies or body parts for body broker services,” the Department of Justice said in a statement, adding that in some instances, the families had specifically declined to donate the bodies.
This structuring of the business ensured that Hess “would always have a fresh supply of stolen bodies which she could later sell to unwitting customers” who were unaware the bodies had been stolen rather than donated, according to the government’s sentencing statement. The case contributed to changes in Colorado law over recent years to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.
“The defendants’ conduct was horrific and morbid and driven by greed,” Cole Finegan, the U.S. attorney for Colorado, said after their sentencing Tuesday. “They took advantage of numerous victims who were at their lowest point given the recent loss of a loved one. We hope these prison sentences will bring the victim’s family members some amount of peace as they move forward in the grieving process.
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