Body Brokers

For eight years, Megan Hess ran Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in the small town of Montrose, Colorado. She promised clients discounts on normally expensive cremations, a seeming kindness in a town where many are poor. But in the back of the funeral home, Megan’s elderly mother Shirley was actually dismembering the dead. And then Megan was selling the body parts – heads, torsos, legs – to companies that claim to do medical research.

The families who trusted Megan –- they had no idea what she was really up to. When they came to pick up the ashes of their loved ones, they instead received a mixture of ashes of various people. They had no idea of their betrayal until some received a strange phonecall from the FBI.

Megan and Shirley were body brokers, trading on a dark network where people buy and sell bodies. What exactly were the two women after? Who was really buying those stolen bodies, and why?

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Small town funeral director Megan Hess is so involved in her community, so generous and compassionate to grieving families. But one of her employees starts to suspect things are not as Megan claims.

Body Brokers is part of The Binge - subscribe to listen to all episodes, all at once, ad-free right now. From serial killer nurses to psychic scammers – The Binge is your home for true crime stories that pull you in and never let go. Follow The Binge Crimes and The Binge Cases to get new stories on the first of the month, every month. Hit ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Body Brokers show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession.

A Sony Music Entertainment and Campside Media production.

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Introducing Smashin' It with Angelina Anderson from Good Game with Sarah Spain.

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Angel City FC goalkeeper Angelina Anderson joins Sarah to talk handling multiple transitions between starter and backup roles with her NWSL club, her reaction to new ACFC head coach Alexander Straus, the battle for the USWNT keeper job, and what Emma Hayes is like as a manager. Plus, USA Hockey & Oklahoma Gymnastics put trophies on the shelf, a big turnout for college softball’s Big Swing, and a perplexing NWSL announcement.

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