‘Horrific and morbid.’ Colorado funeral home sold stolen, infected body parts, feds say

Two women accused of selling hundreds of stolen bodies and body parts from a Colorado funeral home face years in prison, federal officials reported.

The two operated Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, which for years illegally sold bodies and body parts of clients to national body broker services, a Jan. 3 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado said.

Megan Hess, 46, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Shirly Koch, 69, received 15 years in prison, the release said.

“The defendants’ conduct was horrific and morbid and driven by greed,” said U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan. “They took advantage of numerous victims who were at their lowest point given the recent loss of a loved one.”

The two women sold bodies even when families had not agreed to donations or had explicitly declined, the release said. In other cases, they donated more parts than the families had authorized.

Some families were given ashes purportedly of their loved ones, but their bodies or body parts had actually been sold, prosecutors said.

“When Megan stole my mom’s heart, she broke mine,” victim Nancy Overhoff told the court at the Jan. 3 sentencing hearing, according to The Denver Post.

Hess declined to make a statement at the hearing, while Koch, her mother, apologized to the families, the publication said.

The funeral home also sold bodies of patients infected with HIV or hepatitis after telling buyers they were disease-free, the release said.

Leonard Carollo, acting special agent in charge of the Denver FBI office, said Hess and Koch “showed no remorse or contrition” for their “atrocities” after an FBI operation tracked hundreds of bodies and body parts sold across the globe back to their funeral home, according to the release and the Denver Post.

Hess and Koch earlier pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.

This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 10:38 AM with the headline "‘Horrific and morbid.’ Colorado funeral home sold stolen, infected body parts, feds say."