Updated March 10, 2018 2.5K votes 617 voters 63.2K views
Voting Rules
Vote up the weirdest mysteries involving severed remains.
It's a headline that's all too common: Body parts found in everyday common places, like trash cans, rivers, lakes, in parks, and on trails. It's probably one of the most gruesome things a citizen or police officer can discover, and it happens quite a lot. There are even a few unsolved mysteries with body parts playing an integral role to the crime, the biggest perhaps being all the unidentified remains recovered after the September 11th attacks in New York City. Here are 10 cases—both solved and unsolved—of body parts turning up in mysterious circumstances.
In September 2015, the badly decomposed hands, feet, and head of a small child were discovered floating in a lagoon in Chicago's Garfield Park. They were eventually identified as belonging to Kyrian Knox, a two year old who had been missing for several weeks prior to the remains being recovered. Although Knox was identified, police hit a dead-end when friends of the family refused to cooperate with the investigation.
207 votes
2
223 VOTES
A Bunch Of Severed Hands Showed Up In Russia
Macabre bag containing 27 pairs of human hands found in bag on Amur River island. Mystery over who the hands belonged to, when they were chopped off, and why. GRAPHIC IMAGES https://t.co/eq2B1N1Pn9pic.twitter.com/wJZqYveSPr
— The Siberian Times (@siberian_times) March 8, 2018
In 2018, 27 pairs of human hands were found in Siberia. A fisherman made the discovery while walking along the Amur River. He saw one hand poking out from the snow, and quickly discovered there were several more. The hands were found in bags. Authorities said they were probably from a local forensics lab that did not properly get rid of the hands, but some question whether that is the truth.
223 votes
3
251 VOTES
A Possible Victim of the Black Market Body Part Trade
In rural Pennsylvania, a child walking home through the woods made a gruesome discovery on December 12, 2014: the embalmed, severed head of a middle-aged woman. Even more disturbing, the woman's eyes had been replaced with red rubber balls. Even though police received numerous leads, the woman's identity was never established. Many believe her to be the victim of a black market body parts trade that is "pretty expansive," according to Beaver County District Attorney Anthony Berosh.
In January 2012, two women walking their dogs in Bronson Canyon, near the Hollywood sign, discovered the severed head, hands, and feet of a man who was later identified as 66-year-old Hervey Medellin. The case remained cold until 2014, when the police arrested Gabriel Campos-Martinez in connection with Medellin's murder.
It was revealed that Campos-Martinez had been Medellin's live-in boyfriend for several years. It wasn't clear why Campos-Martinez murdered and dismembered Medellin, though investigators did discover a recent search term on a computer found in the couple's apartment: "Butcher a Human Carcass for Human Consumption."
The rest of Medellin's body, as well as the murder weapon and dismemberment tools, were never discovered.
188 votes
5
171 VOTES
Dismembered Remains Found in Bizarre Murder-Suicide
A man discovered three suitcases bearing the dismembered remains of a 70-year-old Austrian woman in January 2016. The suitcases were pulled from the Traunsee lake in Linz, Austria. The woman's hands and feet were in one bag, her torso in another, and her head in a third.
Her severed head was encased in concrete and attached to the hand of her husband, who had also drowned to death in the lake. It was ultimately determined that the woman died of strangulation, and it was believed the man killed her, dismembered her, and killed himself while disposing of the remains.
In early April 2016, a resident of the Central District neighborhood in Seattle, WA discovered body parts from an adult, including a foot, in his recycling bin. Investigators said the parts were "fresh" and that it was clear they were dumped there from another location.
Initially believed to have come from a man, the remains were later linked to Ingrid Marie Lyne, a woman from the suburb of Renton who was murdered and dismembered by a man she met online.
In September 2015, the badly decomposed hands, feet, and head of a small child were discovered floating in a lagoon in Chicago's Garfield Park. They were eventually identified as belonging to Kyrian Knox, a two year old who had been missing for several weeks prior to the remains being recovered. Although Knox was identified, police hit a dead-end when friends of the family refused to cooperate with the investigation.
In rural Pennsylvania, a child walking home through the woods made a gruesome discovery on December 12, 2014: the embalmed, severed head of a middle-aged woman. Even more disturbing, the woman's eyes had been replaced with red rubber balls. Even though police received numerous leads, the woman's identity was never established. Many believe her to be the victim of a black market body parts trade that is "pretty expansive," according to Beaver County District Attorney Anthony Berosh.
