logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
35m 50s

Postmortem, Ep. 3: The collectors

Wbur
About this episode

Who are the people buying this stuff anyway? People who collect human remains don’t see it as gross. In fact, these collectors connect and communicate openly on social media. In Episode 3 of Postmortem: The Stolen Bodies of Harvard, reporter Ally Jarmanning meets Jeremy Pauley, the Pennsylvania man with a tattooed eye whose arrest unravels this whole case.

Jarmanning dines in the home of a Delaware couple with a house full of skeletons; they call themselves “rescuers” of human remains.

And she introduces us to Mike Drake, a New York City collector. Through all these conversations, it becomes clear: There's no solid ethical line in this world of remains collectors; everyone is making up their own rules.

If you have questions, comments or tips about this story, you could reach us at LastSeen@wbur.org.

Up next
Jan 2025
Introducing: What Remains from NHPR's Outside/In
Introducing “What Remains,” a special series from NHPR’s Outside/In. A classroom display of human skulls sparks a reckoning at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. A movement grows to “abolish the collection.” The Penn Museum relents to pressure. But there are more skeletons in the c ... Show More
37m 13s
May 2024
Postmortem, Ep. 5: A reckoning
In Episode 5 of Postmortem: The Stolen Bodies of Harvard, reporter Ally Jarmanning digs deeper into the "legitimate" realm of body-parts collecting ⁠— museums ⁠— and asks the burning question: How different is this from the world of Jeremy Pauley in his basement or Cedric Lodge s ... Show More
28m 42s
May 2024
Postmortem, Ep. 4: The anatomy lab
As haunting as the Harvard morgue scandal is, you don't have to go back very far in history to find practices for sourcing bodies that would be shocking today. Reporter Ally Jarmanning finds that for more than a century, medical schools relied on grave robbing and body snatching ... Show More
23m 47s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2024
The Collector & the Fugitive /// Part 1 /// 754
The Collector & the Fugitive /// Part 1 /// 754 Part 1 of 2   www.TrueCrimeGarage.comLeonard Lake and Charles Ng silently terrorized and collected victims in the greater San Fransisco area for about two years.  Leonard Lake was a criminal in every way, committing every type of cr ... Show More
47m 24s
Jan 2025
The Stranger (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
In the fall of 2003, two detectives were in the middle of a year-long homicide case, involving the brutal murder of a 19 year-old girl. And for the first time, they finally felt like they had a viable suspect. But when they pulled up to the suspect’s house to conduct a second int ... Show More
36m 31s
Oct 2024
David Fuller: Monster in the Morgue | #369
At first, police thought they were only looking for a double murderer. Nicknamed the ‘Bedsit Killer’ in the press, the suspect’s reputation for savage violence already loomed large in the town of Tunbridge Wells in the late 80s. But it was only when they caught David Fuller – mor ... Show More
1h 7m
May 9
Conspiracy in Canton - 051
Week 3 (Part 1): The jury gets their first peak inside the investigation from Canton PD, and the SERT team search. Witnesses from 34 Fairview are called, but not the ones everyone expected. Digital data is discussed, and Brennan's approach reveals itself like week old taillight p ... Show More
45m 11s
May 2024
The Collector & the Fugitive /// Part 2 /// 755
The Collector & the Fugitive /// Part 2 /// 755 Part 2 of 2   www.TrueCrimeGarage.comLeonard Lake and Charles Ng silently terrorized and collected victims in the greater San Fransisco area for about two years.  Leonard Lake was a criminal in every way, committing every type of cr ... Show More
58m 53s
Jun 30
David Shier Part 3: Hollow Answers
Over the past two weeks, you’ve heard the story of David Shier, who vanished from Trinidad, Colorado, in February 2022, and the exhaustive search that followed. Despite the urgency, no clues surfaced. Dave's family was forced to reexamine every detail, lead, and possibility.On th ... Show More
1h 5m
Apr 2024
Dorothea Puente: The Serial Killer Granny
To the outside world, Dorothea Puente presented herself as a kind grandmotherly figure who cared for the disabled and vulnerable residents of her boarding house in downtown Sacramento. But behind closed doors, nothing was as it seemed… Not only was she stealing the money of her t ... Show More
46m 59s
Jul 2024
Brandon Cartellone ////// 777
Brandon Cartellone ////// 777Part 1 of 1   www.TrueCrimeGarage.comOn July 26, 2011 - Brandon Cartellone was viciously killed.  His body was found in his second floor apartment at approximately 1AM on July 27th.  Brandon was just 21 years old.  He was a successful Industrial Desig ... Show More
1h 3m
Mar 2025
You Can't Leave That Way (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
This is a special bonus episode of "You Can't"Today's story is about a woman who goes missing from a psychiatric hospital in 1900. Now at first, this story will seem like a pretty ordinary missing person case. That is, until you reach the very end. Lets just say, this story has o ... Show More
29m 52s
Apr 2019
S3 Ep21: Ladies Of The Lake (Part 2) - The Corpse In Coniston Water (Part 2)
The complex and disturbing case of The Corpse In Coniston Water is rounded off in this episode of The True Crime Enthusiast Podcast - showing why to this very day, it is one that continues to intrigue, cause controversy - and divide people's opinions.Music used in this episode: " ... Show More
56m 52s