Saturday, May 15, 2010

Grave robbers hit Iowa cemetery

Not yet, but they will with this ruling:
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Iowa Court of Appeals has ordered the siblings of a man who died more than a year ago to exhume his body so his head can be cut off and cryogenically frozen.

The court sided with Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which sought to dig up the remains of 81-year-old Orville Richardson.

The man had signed a contract with Alcor to have his head placed in cryonic suspension. When he died in February 2009, his brother and sister buried him.

Alcor sued to exhume Richardson's body but a district court judge ruled against it. The company appealed, and the appeals court said Alcor was entitled to the remains.

Richardson's sister, Darlene Broeker, declined to comment. Attorneys in the case did not immediately return telephone messages Friday.

Iowa court orders man's siblings to exhume his body so head can be cut off and frozen
I ask: What is the point? The guy is dead and cannot hope to be reanimated. Taking the embalmed head serves what purpose?

3 comments:

Toaster 802 said...

Profit.

strandediniowa said...

That's my first thought, too but the judges could have done the right thing (I know that's a stretch). They could have pulled a Solomon and ruled that's a breach of contract, here's your money, but leave the body alone. Both parties "win".

For the family's peace, they court could have done the right thing but didn't.

Jeffersonian said...

Profit, yes, but perhaps with a longer view:

An Interesting Head Case