Investigation reveals bodies of hundreds of murdered migrants were used for lucrative medical research

The body of a 21-year-old Venezuelan immigrant shot to death in a Texas street attack will be used by a university for medical training and research, despite efforts by the victim’s family to return him home for burial. This was revealed on NBC News.

According to the investigation, her incident was not an isolated incident or an oversight. The more than 1,000 dead whose bodies were unclaimed were similarly used for lucrative biotech research and training, often without the consent of their families and under questionable circumstances.

Aurimar Iturriago Villegas arrived in the United States in September 2022 after a perilous journey through the Darien Gap, Central America, and Mexico. Her mother, Arelis Koromoto Villegas, said the Venezuelan immigrant quickly found work as a cleaner in Florida to help support her family back home.

Two months later, while visiting friend Alexis Moreno in Dallas, the young immigrant was tragically shot in the head during a street assault. Moreno notified Aurimar’s sister about the death and provided authorities with the family’s contact information.

NBC later confirmed that the Dallas County Coroner’s Office submitted contact information for the mother, but could not be reached and declared Orrimer’s body unclaimed.

Her body was then donated by Moreno to the University of North Texas Health Science Center, but Moreno falsely claimed that he had permission to do so. The university dissected and studied parts of Aurimar’s body, used them for medical training and biotechnology research, and loaned them to companies without consent.

According to NBC, the Health Sciences Center generates $2.5 million annually through donation agreements with local counties, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings in cremation and burial costs.

After the investigation came to light, the university suspended its body donation program and fired the staff member responsible for not knowing that unclaimed bodies were being used.

In Texas, the use of unclaimed bodies for scientific purposes is reportedly legal, although questionable. According to the study, most of the decedents used in the study suffered from homelessness, opioid addiction, and family separation.

But Aurimar didn’t fit into any of those categories. Her cremated remains were eventually buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Dallas, inaccessible to her family.