Partial remains of more than 100 people, including 10 brains found in Pensacola storage unit
Published: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 9:49 AM Updated: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 10:08 AM
Dennis Pillion |
dpillion@al.comPENSACOLA, Florida -- Parts of the remains of more than 100 people were found in a storage unit that was put up for auction Friday in Pensacola, including hearts, lungs, tissue samples and 10 whole brains, according to a report in the Pensacola News Journal.
The unit in Uncle Bob's Storage on Fairfield Drive had been leased by former associate medical examiner David Berkland, who was fired from the medical examiner's office in 2003 for keeping a backlog of cases and not completing autopsy reports in a timely fashion.
Current medical examiner, Dr. Andi Minyard said the remains appear to be samples from private autopsies Berkland performed from 1997 to 2007.
Performing private autopsies is not a crime in Florida, but the State Attorney's Office is looking into whether laws were broken by storing parts of somebody's uncle at Uncle Bob's Storage.
"Florida tries to regulate things like improper storage of biomedical waste," Minyard told the News Journal. "Out of respect for the families as well, it’s a horrible thing to know that your uncle’s brain is setting in some storage shed that got sold at an auction.
Minyard is trying to alert the families of those who ended up in the storage locker, but some items, including the brains, were not labeled. Minyard said it is not unusual for medical examiners to keep some tissue on hand for a time in case more tests need to be run later. Minyard said her office keeps them for about a year, then properly disposes of the tissue buckets.
"There is absolutely no reason to keep a whole brain for this many years," she said.
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