42°
Jeremy Lee Pauley has been under investigation by local police and the FBI since the East Pennsboro Township police first received a call of "suspicious activity"— which is what they are calling it when a landlord discovered those buckets— in the 200 block of North Enola Road around 7 a.m. on June 14, according to a release by the department.
The items seized during the search were human brains, heart, livers, bones, hair, skin, teeth, a nipple, and lungs, police state in court documents. The items were seized and taken to the Cumberland County lab for evidence where they were examined by Dr. Wayne Ross, a forensic pathologist, "who confirmed the items seized from Pauley’s basement were indeed human body parts," as stated in an updated release by the Cumberland County district attorney's office.
“This is one of the most bizarre investigations I have encountered in my thirty-three years as a prosecutor. Just when I think I have seen it all, a case like this comes around,” District Attorney Seán M. McCormack said.
Pauley spent thousands purchasing "human body parts from a female in Arkansas," who was later identified as Candace Scott, as stated in the updated release.
"The human remains were found in Enola, Arkansas, and Scranton and were being sold on Facebook for monetary gain," police say.
Pauley even admitted to the purchases to the police, although he claims everything was legal, according to a criminal complaint.
But why? Why did he make these purchases?
So far police believe he was reselling the items and/or using them in one of the two oddity museums where he worked.
Pauley is the owner/curator of The Grand Wunderkammer, the executive director and curator of the Memento Mori Museum, and a vendor at the Bazaar of the Bizarre, according to his social media.
The Grand Wunderkammer's Facebook page is for "vendors of the odd and unusual."
What Pauley may not have known is that Scott was stealing the body parts, police say.
Police and FBI soon determined that these items had been stolen, possibly multiple times, as Scott stole those body parts from a mortuary in Arkansas but they were later determined to be the property of the University of Arkansas, according to the release by the district attorney's office.
Pauley was arrested and released on $50,000 bail for two felony charges for dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities and receiving stolen property, and two misdemeanors for receiving stolen property and abuse of a corpse, police say and court records confirm.
His preliminary hearing has been scheduled before Magisterial District Judge Michael Sanderson at 1:15 p.m. on September 14, according to his court docket.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Ridgefield Park-Hasbrouck Heights and receive free news updates.
