Man arrested in Hungary for taking human body parts from cemeteries

Police in Hungary have arrested a 30-year-old man who investigators say collected human body parts that he'd gathered from abandoned cemeteries and from his workplace at a hospital.

Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation arrested the man in Budapest on June 17 after receiving information that he'd been storing the body parts at work and at home. The man is employed as an orderly at a hospital, police said in a statement.

During a search of the man's apartment, investigators seized skulls, a complete lower leg and a hand, as well as a reconstruction of a human face prepared from facial skin. Other bones were found stored in a suitcase.

A heart was also found in a jar, and police were trying to determine whether it was of human or animal origin.

The man, who admitted during questioning collecting the body parts, said he was particularly attracted to human body parts, and that he had prepared food from such parts and eaten them.

He is being held on suspicion of illegal use of human bodies.

In their statement, police said the man is “passionate about anatomy and pathology, and likes to dissect animals”. They suspected he obtained the body parts through his work at a hospital and by digging up bodies “in abandoned cemeteries in Slovakia and Hungary”.

Police seized the man’s computer, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, SIM and data cards. All of the recovered body parts will be examined by forensic experts, police said, adding that the range of alleged crimes could expand after the origin of all the body parts is determined.