Embalmer mutilates sex offender’s genitals, TX cops say. ‘Clearly ... she was angry’
.png "An embalmer is charged with abuse of a corpse after Texas police say she mutilated the body of a sex offender at a Houston funeral home.")
An embalmer at a Houston funeral home was caught mutilating a man’s body after learning he was a sex offender, Texas police say.
The 34-year-old woman was charged with abuse of a corpse, according to court records filed in Harris County on March 6.
The charges come nearly a month after investigators say she cut off the penis of a 58-year-old man’s corpse with a scalpel, then stuffed his genitals into his mouth.
“This case is about two troubled people: the victim who was a registered sex offender and the defendant, who is accused of viciously attacking his dead body,” Precinct One Constable Alan Rosen said in a March 10 statement. “No matter what one thinks of his life, the law requires that he be treated with dignity in death.”
The Feb. 7 incident happened shortly after a relative of the man called the funeral home, Memorial Mortuary & Crematory, asking that his cremated remains be split between his daughter and his new spouse, court records show. During the call, the relative shared that the man — who was currently being prepared from cremation — had been a registered sex offender.
“Within minutes” of that revelation, the funeral home’s crematory director told fellow staff that their embalmer had just castrated the man’s body, records show.
McClatchy News tried calling the funeral home for comment but was unable to speak with anyone or leave a message.
Another employee, a student embalmer, witnessed the act, investigators said. The student told police the embalmer then threatened her, saying “you didn’t see anything.”
When the funeral home director came to see what happened, the embalmer quickly placed a towel over the man’s groin and said there’s “a lot going on with him,” authorities said.
“I don’t know the suspect’s past, but we have the utmost empathy for anyone who has been the victim of a sexual assault or is the family or friend of someone who has been the victim of a sexual assault,” Rosen said. “The facts clearly indicate she was angry and I hope after this is resolved in the courts, she gets the help she needs.”
The man, who is listed in a statewide sex offender registry, died of natural causes in January, police said.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Embalmer mutilates sex offender’s genitals, TX cops say. ‘Clearly ... she was angry’."