Chicago Body Harvesting Ring Exposed

The United States faces a troubling issue with illegal body part trade. Is this linked to the organ harvesting of missing individuals?

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Once again, hundreds of familieswill be left wondering if the
bodies of loved ones have been bought and sold on the black
market. 7 Action News investigator Jim Kirschner is
here tonight with a store you'llsee only on 7 Jim.
Steven and Carolyn, this case started here, according to
sources, when a man named ArthurRathburn was shipping human body
parts through Metro Airport. Get this the box leaked blood.

(00:24):
Those cargo haulers then called for help.
The underground human body tradeindustry has exposed shocking
illegal activities operating within America's poorly
regulated tissue donation system.
What began as raids on 2 unassuming Chicago suburban
businesses, a crematorium, and the Biological Resource Center
of Illinois, BR Sill, revealed Adisturbing network trafficking

(00:48):
in human remains under the guiseof medical science.
Federal agents discovered thousands of meticulously
cataloged human body parts with specific price tags, head
selling for $500, arms for $750,and complete bodies commanding
1000 dollars, $5000. The operation allegedly deceived

(01:11):
donors and families who believe they were contributing to
medical research rather than having remains sold for profit
in a commercial enterprise. The investigation uncovered
particularly troubling health risks.
Many body parts were infected with HIV, hepatitis, and other
serious diseases that should have immediately disqualified

(01:32):
them from any medical use or sale.
Despite these dangers, the remains were allegedly sold to
hospitals, doctors, and medical training facilities both within
the United States and internationally, potentially
exposing healthcare workers to significant risks.
The father son owners of Bar Sill, Donald Green Senior and

(01:54):
Donald Green Junior, received what many consider surprisingly
light sentences. Green Senior was sentenced to 24
months in prison with 36 months of supervised release, while
Green Junior received just 30 days of incarceration with one
year of supervised release. Both were also assessed minimal
fines of $100. This Chicago operation was far

(02:17):
from unique. Similar body broker rings have
been exposed across the country,revealing a pattern of
exploitation spanning decades. In Arizona, a 2014 FBI raid of
the Biological Resource Center owned by Steven Gore uncovered
scenes that shocked even veteraninvestigators.

(02:38):
Agents found coolers filled withsevered heads, buckets of limbs,
and, most disturbingly, torsos with mismatched heads sewn
together in what court documentsdescribed as reminiscent of
Frankenstein's monster. Despite the gruesome nature of
these discoveries, Gore receivedonly probation after pleading
guilty. A 2018 Reuters investigation

(03:02):
titled The Body Trade exposed how a Detroit warehouse
connected to the Illinois case was operated by Arthur Rathburn.
He ultimately received a nine year prison sentence for fraud
and shipping hazardous materialsAfter supplying body parts
infected with HIV and hepatitis to medical researchers in

(03:23):
Colorado. Mother, Daughter funeral
directors Megan Hess and ShirleyKoch operated the Sunset Mesa
Funeral Home while allegedly selling body parts from hundreds
of corpses meant for cremation. In many cases, they provided
families with concrete dust instead of actual ashes.
Both women pleaded guilty to mail fraud in 2023.

(03:46):
A disturbing pattern has emergedconnecting these body broker
operations to unexplained disappearances from medical
facilities across the country. Multiple cases share striking
similarities, patients vanishingdespite the presence of security
cameras, personal belongings left behind, and suspicious gaps
in surveillance footage at critical moments.

(04:09):
The case of two year old Neva Richard highlights the
vulnerability of patients. She disappeared from a Cleveland
doctor's appointment in 2012 where she was being treated for
Wardenberg syndrome, a rare genetic condition.
The circumstances of her separation from her caregiver
remain unclear. Carlton Pernell vanished from

(04:30):
Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, leaving behind his
wallet and personal items. No surveillance footage showed
him actually leaving the facility.
Frank Brown disappeared in 2015 from Baptist Hospital in
Jacksonville after being treatedfor seizures.
Despite calling family for a ride home and them arriving

(04:51):
within 30 minutes, he was never seen again.
Security footage showed him in the hospital but never captured
his exit. Similar cases include Bartolo
Diaz Ortiz, who vanished after allegedly being taken to an
Arizona hospital, George GregorySmith, who disappeared after
supposed discharge from a Detroit hospital, and Shanice

(05:12):
Burrell, who vanished while visiting her newborn in a Saint
Louis NICU. Lamont Jenkins and Derek
Chambers also disappeared from hospitals in Cleveland and Oak
Lawn, respectively. The geographic overlap between
these disappearances and known body broker operations raises
disturbing questions. Many vanishments occurred in the

(05:35):
same cities where illegal body trading operations were later
exposed, Detroit, Chicago, Phoenix and other major
metropolitan areas. The industry operates in a
dangerous regulatory vacuum. While organ donation for
transplants is strictly controlled by federal law, the
trade in non transplant body parts has minimal oversight.

(05:58):
Only a handful of states have enacted specific regulations
governing body brokers, creatingopportunities for exploitation
and abuse. The legitimate medical donation
industry serves vital purposes, allowing surgeons to practice
new techniques, researchers to test medical devices, and
students to study human anatomy.However, the combination of

(06:23):
profit potential and minimal regulation creates conditions
ripe for criminal exploitation. Law enforcement officials have
been reluctant to publicly comment on potential connections
between missing persons cases and the body broker industry.
However, multiple agencies have quietly reopened investigations,
suggesting possible links are being explored.

(06:45):
The unsealed documents from these investigations highlight
serious issues at the intersection of medicine, ethics
and commerce. The cases demonstrate urgent
need for greater transparency, consistent standards and
appropriate oversight to ensure body donations are handled
ethically and with dignity. For families of missing persons,

(07:08):
the possibility their loved onescould have been exploited by
this industry adds new horror totheir ongoing nightmare.
The pattern of disappearances from medical facilities,
combined with the documented illegal trade in human remains
raises disturbing questions about vulnerability within the
healthcare system. These cases under score the

(07:29):
importance of having trusted companions present during
medical visits and hospitalizations.
The profit motive in the largelyunregulated body broker
industry, combined with suspicious patterns of
disappearances, suggests patients may be at risk from
those willing to cross ethical and legal boundaries for
financial gain. Reform efforts must focus on

(07:52):
closing regulatory gaps while preserving legitimate medical
donation programs that advance healthcare.
Until stronger oversight is implemented, the intersection of
missing persons cases and the underground body trade will
continue, raising troubling questions about exploitation of
society's most vulnerable members.

(08:15):
Why were you stockpiling hundreds of human body parts
here, Sir? That's Art Rathburn.
And remember his business 13 months ago?
For two days, federal investigators dressed in hazmat
suits removed body parts of 1000different people, arms, legs,
heads, cut up and kept on ice, not embalmed, so they would be
fresh for the black market. Today, the rundown warehouse on

(08:37):
Detroit's east side is shutteredand up for sale.
Sources say Rathburn's seized records LED to the Chicago area
today, a business called Biological Resource Center in
Rosemont. It's difficult to see from the
outside, but sources say the hazmat suits and raid are
underway on the 6th floor of this office building.

(08:57):
The same paper trail LED investigators to Biological
Resource Center in Phoenix last January and another raid
removing body parts and corpses.There were also ties to similar
businesses in Las Vegas. Since these dealt directly with
the public, families were left without answers.
Julie donated her husband Steve's body and was promised

(09:19):
his cremated remains back in a month.
Confused and and angry. We thought this was going to be
doing some good. Yeah, it doesn't sound like it
is. What do you say to all those
families who had no idea their loved ones were in here?
Michigan pulled Art Rathburn's license last year after our
reporting, even though they weretold about his problems two

(09:39):
years before. Go find out what the heck he is
doing. And that wasn't done right.
Did we do something two years ago?
No, we didn't. Are we doing an investigation
now? Yes, we are.
Are you? Worried about going to prison
now? No one has been charged by the
feds yet. They're actually 2 locations
involved in this raid going on right now in the Chicago area.

(10:02):
The offices in Rosemont and the lab in another suburb where they
have found body parts. But my sources say this case is
winding down. And with this new evidence in
Chicago, they can now finish this case after some 13 months.
Thanks for listening to No Tearsfor Black Girls.
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(10:22):
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