Tartan Talks

Investigative Arts

Episode Summary

The woman’s severed head lay in the woods, 10 yards off a rural road. Her mouth was open. Her eyes were closed. Her hair was gray and fluffy. A teenager spotted her about half past noon on Dec. 12, 2014. Moments later, police say, the boy called 911. “I found a human head,” he calmly told the operator. Today, almost three years after the discovery, the woman’s identity remains a mystery. Authorities haven’t determined how or when she died, her age, why she was decapitated, or how her head came to rest off Mason Road in this town of 12,000 not far from Pittsburgh. Despite an initial flurry of tips, police say they have no suspects. But they do have a leading theory. They believe the head may have been severed by a so-called body broker – someone who sells body parts from a cadaver donated to science. “She was dismembered professionally,” said Michelle Vitali, professor at Edinboro University. (Source: Reuters Investigates.)