CBS 2 Exclusive: Inside Garage Of Abortion Doctor Ulrich Klopfer, Who Kept Fetal Remains On His Crete Property
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A CBS 2 exclusive: In the fall of 2019 a well known and highly controversial abortion doctor died.
In the days after Dr. Ulrich Klopfer's death, his family discovered dozens of boxes inside his garage, containing thousands of fetal remains.
For the first time, we're seeing what police saw when they entered the grizzly crime scene. CBS 2's Chris Tye reports the abortion doctor made his career in Indiana and made his home in Illinois.
A home whose contents have been kept off limits, until now.
Fifty members of the Will County Sheriff's Department descended on his garage 16 months ago, for a case as unprecedented as it was unimaginable.
"In the 31 years I've been in this job, I've never seen anything like this. Ever," said Sheriff Mike Kelley.
What authorities saw was kept as evidence and out of public view.
Through the Freedom of Information Act, CBS 2 obtained never before seen photos of the 6,275 human chains and dollies needed to remove the grizzly evidence.
Among the normal garage staples of the recently deceased Dr. Ulrich Klopfer of recycle bins, tires and ladders, were boxes.
Boxes behind luggage as high as the windows. Boxes stacked amongst buckets and tools up to the ceiling. Some were wilting and rotting. All of them numbered and cataloged. All of them containing fetal remains: 2,246 in all.
All from procedures authorities said Klopfer performed at his three Indiana abortion clinics between 2000 and 2002.
"Hundreds and hundreds of boxes," said Kelley. "We had to go through to make sure there were no more fetal remains."
Inside the boxes, the remains were kept in plastic bags, preserved with chemicals. Some of them in coolers. Some in medical supply boxes.
"Probably, one of the most unusual cases in our careers," said former Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil.
Days later, another round of remains were found. This time in Klopfer's old Mercedes Benz. In old boxes intended for motor oil and whiskey. The total number of remains found: 2,411.
Last month the case was brought to a close. No charges and no answers as to why Indiana's most controversial abortion doctor brought these remains home to Illinois.
Klopfer died of natural causes. Police believe all these remains were from patients in Indiana. In his final report on the case, the Indiana Attorney General said a dignified burial for all 2,411 remains occurred in Indiana.
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