Father Wonders: Did Raided Business Mishandle His Daughter's Remains?
(CBS) -- Imagine losing a child, donating their remains –- only to learn the people who handled those remains are under federal scrutiny.
That's the situation in which John Butsch found himself this week, as federal authorities raided two suburban sites as part of a national investigation into allegations that body parts may have been sold on the black market.
Butsch's daughter was 26 when she died suddenly late last year. She told her dad she had donated her body to science.
Her remains went to Biological Resource Center in Rosemont, a focal point during a days-long raid in the Chicago area. Also raided was a related business, Cremation Services Inc. in Schiller Park.
"I said, 'Wait a minute, what's going on here,'" the father tells CBS 2's Brad Edwards. "You think, 'Was my daughter violated?' Were her wishes not respected?"
Now, he wonders whether the cremains he was given are really those of his daughter.
"It seems like a violation of the donor system that we all put a lot of faith in," Butsch says.
He says he spoke with a representative from Biological Resource Center who assured him that his daughter's and other cases were handled with the highest level of integrity.
That's what they company's lawyer told CBS 2 this week.
