Published 2024-12-22 23.54
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full screen Aurimar Iturriago Villegas, 21, was shot to death. Then her body parts were sold without the family’s knowledge. Photo: Facebook
21-year-old Aurimar was murdered shortly after she crossed the border into the United States.
Two years later, her mother learned that Aurimar’s body parts had been sold for medical experiments.
– She is not a small animal that can be slaughtered, that can be cut up, says mother Arelis Coromoto Villegas to NBC.
A head for SEK 7,000.
A whole body for SEK 15,500.
The morbid price list shocked the US.
Via the television channel NBC, relatives learned that their family members were sold without permission to medical experiments in the state of Texas.
The University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth raked in up to 28 million kroner a year by reselling the body parts, reports NBC.
Died in silence
The center marketed its human remains with the description “the highest quality to be found in the United States.”
The bodies came from the Dallas and Tarrant morgues. When no one claimed their dead relatives, they were sent on to the university.
Often it was about lonely people who died in silence, without anyone by their side.
Many relatives believe that the morgues did not make an effort to find out about the families of the dead, according to NBC.
So far, 2,350 bodies have been sent to the university, of which 830 were selected and dismembered for experimentation and resale.
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fullscreen North Texas Health Science Center reportedly made 28 million annually from selling body parts. Photo: Instagram
Shot in the head
One of them was the undocumented migrant Aurimar Iturriago Villegas, murdered 400 miles from his family in Venezuela.
She was shot in the head on October 29, 2022 during a road rage while sitting in the back seat of a car. She had just started her new life in the United States.
Mother Arelis wanted to bring her daughter’s remains home to Venezuela, always believing it was possible.
A fundraiser was started in her village, but communication problems delayed it.
After six weeks, Aurimar’s body was deemed unclaimed and she was donated to the university.
Her torso was sold on for 10,000 kroner, and the legs for around 8,000 kroner.
Got fired
The head was destroyed by the gunshot wound and was cremated together with the rest of the body. The ashes were buried in a field for lonely people in Dallas.
All this time Arelis was trying to solve the repatriation of daughter Aurimar, despite her poverty.
– I had done the impossible, even cleaned the streets, she says to NBC.
When the university became aware of NBC’s investigation, the donation program was suspended and an investigation was launched. Two people who were responsible for the donation program have been fired.
Through a journalist, Arelis obtained the email address of an official at the Dallas mortuary, where she sent a request to have her daughter’s ashes brought home.
The answer she received: A map of the memorial grove where Auremi’s remains lie, and a formal apology for the grief.
Now 55-year-old Arelis has stopped eating and, according to the family, has entered a depression.
– Even though it hurts the soul, I think I should throw in the towel and leave everything in God’s hands, she says to NBC.