This week on Dead Diary, we're looking into a case that feels like it shouldn't be real. The story begins in 2012 with the cyanide poisoning death of 23-year-old Christopher Erick in Midlothian, TX. But the real nightmare comes after a paperwork mistake marked his body as unclaimed. His mother, Kim Erick Smith, says she never saw her son's remains again.

Years later, Kim came across the Real Bodies Exhibit and recognized one of the plastinated human displays as Christopher. What followed was a decade-long fight to track the body, challenge official explanations, and demand DNA testing. And just when her claims started gaining traction, the body vanished from the exhibit altogether.

In this episode, we unpack the exhibit's sourcing of bodies, Kim's detailed paper trail, the disappearance of the plastinated body, and how recent discoveries of hundreds of unidentified cremains in Nevada may be connected.

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Dead Diary is a production of Murder Creek Media, a woman-owned podcasting and media company. Without backing from any production studio or corporate entity, we have the freedom to explore cases thoroughly and tell the stories that matter the most. While this independence allows for creative control, it also means that we rely heavily on listener support to keep the show going. Please visit [murdercreekmedia.com](http://murdercreekmedia.com/) to learn more about us, our mission, and how you can support the show.

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