Cops: N.J. Funeral Home Employee Dumped Human Organs in North Philly

The infant human organs found inside a small coffin on a North Philadelphia street earlier this week were dumped by an employee from a New Jersey funeral home, according to police.

Officials began analyzing the embalmed organs after the casket was discovered on the 3100 block of W. Clearfield Street around 9 p.m. Monday. 

During a press conference this morning, Capt. Malachi Jones said the organs are the remains of a 3- to 4-month-old baby buried in South Jersey last week.

Jones said workers at the funeral home claimed they noticed the latch on the baby’s casket was broken as they were preparing for the funeral, so they transferred the body to a different casket. An employee then drove the original casket, which contained the organs, to North Philadelphia and dumped it on the street, Jones said.

Philly police: Casket with infant organs came from NJ https://t.co/VFmzkPUkwd pic.twitter.com/tZdZsEuNKr

— Action News on 6abc (@6abc) July 6, 2017

The employee reportedly told police that he didn’t realize the baby’s remains were still inside the coffin. It’s unclear why the remains weren’t transferred with the rest of the body to the new coffin.

It’s also unclear at this time whether or not charges will be filed against the employee or the funeral home – neither of which have been named. Jones said police were still “trying to determine exactly why [the coffin] was discarded” and are “confident that this will be brought to closure very shortly.”

The investigation is ongoing.

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