bigbluemsp
Member
ONLY IN PORT HURON :roll:
Police seize skeleton
Mummified corpse put in eBay auction
The mummified remains of a human body found in a Port Huron woman's home are expected to be analyzed by an anthropologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Port Huron police confiscated the skeletal remains from the Jenkinson Street home Tuesday evening. Police Capt. Don Porrett said officers received a tip resident Lynn Sterling was selling the remains on the Internet auction site eBay
St. Clair County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz examined the skeleton Wednesday and confirmed it was that of a human, said Mary Palmateer, chief forensic investigator at the medical examiner's office.
The MSU anthropologist will examine the skeleton to determine factors such as how old it is.
Sterling said she was selling the item for a friend, had done research and contacted an attorney before posting the remains on eBay. The mummy, she said, was taken from a Detroit school several years ago.
Sterling estimated the mummy is at least 100 years old.
"It's an anatomical, medical-use skeleton," she said. "I would never have put it on (eBay) if I thought it was anything other than an anatomical, medical thing."
The posting was removed from eBay Wednesday morning because it violated a policy against selling human remains, company spokeswoman Catherine England said.
The Web site allows the sale of skeletons for medical use, but it does not allow mummified remains to be sold.
Sterling said many doctors and professors e-mailed her about the posting because the mummy was preserved through a different process than what is used today.
"I know it was probably someone's child or family member at some point, but people donate their bodies to science all the time," she said.
Porrett said police will continue to investigate but don't expect to seek charges against Sterling or the mummy's owner.
"How bizarre at Halloween time to have your own mummy," he said.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061012/NEWS01/610120303
Pics on the link above
Police seize skeleton
Mummified corpse put in eBay auction
The mummified remains of a human body found in a Port Huron woman's home are expected to be analyzed by an anthropologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Port Huron police confiscated the skeletal remains from the Jenkinson Street home Tuesday evening. Police Capt. Don Porrett said officers received a tip resident Lynn Sterling was selling the remains on the Internet auction site eBay
St. Clair County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz examined the skeleton Wednesday and confirmed it was that of a human, said Mary Palmateer, chief forensic investigator at the medical examiner's office.
The MSU anthropologist will examine the skeleton to determine factors such as how old it is.
Sterling said she was selling the item for a friend, had done research and contacted an attorney before posting the remains on eBay. The mummy, she said, was taken from a Detroit school several years ago.
Sterling estimated the mummy is at least 100 years old.
"It's an anatomical, medical-use skeleton," she said. "I would never have put it on (eBay) if I thought it was anything other than an anatomical, medical thing."
The posting was removed from eBay Wednesday morning because it violated a policy against selling human remains, company spokeswoman Catherine England said.
The Web site allows the sale of skeletons for medical use, but it does not allow mummified remains to be sold.
Sterling said many doctors and professors e-mailed her about the posting because the mummy was preserved through a different process than what is used today.
"I know it was probably someone's child or family member at some point, but people donate their bodies to science all the time," she said.
Porrett said police will continue to investigate but don't expect to seek charges against Sterling or the mummy's owner.
"How bizarre at Halloween time to have your own mummy," he said.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061012/NEWS01/610120303
Pics on the link above
