FBI agents at the Biological Resource Centre in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo / Supplied
FBI agents at the Biological Resource Centre in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo / Supplied
A lawsuit against a US scientific research facility has described how the clinic that received donated body parts misused limbs, heads and torsos in grisly scenes similar to the horror novel Frankenstein.
The chilling descriptions came to light last week as part civil action filed by 33 defendants whose loved ones' bodies were donated to the Arizona-based Biological Resource Centre (BRC).
The FBI at the research facility in Phoenix. Photo / Supplied
Plaintiffs for the case state that they were misled by the company who told them the bodies would be used for disease research or organ donation.
The reality was horrifying with owner Stephen Gore, 52, found guilty of selling body parts and operating an illegal business.
More than 1755 human body parts were found at the facility, which took 142 body bags to move and weighed 10 tonnes, according to Reuters.
Buckets of body parts and a chilly bin filled with male genitals were also discovered by FBI agents, the new lawsuit reveals.
Agents also found "infected heads," a small woman's head sewn onto a large male torso hanging on a wall "like Frankenstein," and body parts stacked on top of one another with no identification tags.
In a declaration, former FBI special agent Mark Cwynar described "various unsettling scenes" at the site in Phoenix, AZ Central reported.
Cwynar also spoke of a "cooler filled with male genitalia", "infected heads" and a "bucket of heads, arms and legs" without any identification tags.
There were also blood and bodily fluids on the floor of the freezer.
The initial 2014 raids occurred as part of a multi-state investigation into the illegal trafficking and sale of human body parts.
Inside Edition reported that some of the body parts were sent to a Department of Defense testing facility in Virginia.
"They used him as a crash test dummy for military testing," Jill Hansen said of her late husband.
The BRC picked up the bodies of deceased loved ones from family homes, and from there they sold the parts to middlemen for profit, the NY Post reported.
Stephen Gore with his family, who pleaded leniency before he was sentenced. Photo / Supplied
Bodies were cut up using chain saws and band saws, tools that are not supposed to be used when medically dismembering cadavers.
There was even a price list for body parts, according to AZ Central and Inside Edition.
This included a whole upper torso for US$4000, an intact torso for US$2900, a spine for US$1900, a leg from mid-femur to toe tip for US$600, a head for US$500 and a knee for US$375.
A full, intact body could cost anywhere between US$5000 and US$10,000.
After the investigations, business owner Gore pleaded guilty in October 2015 to federal charges of conducting an illegal enterprise, the NY Post reported.
He admitted that the bodies were not used in a way that donors had permitted and that he was "overwhelmed" working in an industry without regulation.
His wife, children and siblings pleaded for a lenient sentence, describing him as a "family man", reported Fox 10 Phoenix.
Gore was sentenced to one year deferred jail time, four years probation and was forced to pay US$121,000 in restitution.
"I could have been more open about the process of donation on the brochure we put in public view," Gore said, according to AZ Central.
Gore allegedly did not receive any licenses or certifications applicable to body donation program operations.
