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The FBI discovered stolen human remains, including skulls, spinal cords and organs, inside the home of a Kentucky man who was using some of the body parts as furniture.
Federal authorities raided the apartment of 39-year-old James William Nott in Mount Washington, Ky., on Tuesday morning.
WAVE News, which first broke the story, reported that when FBI agents arrived at Nott’s residence, they asked if anyone else was inside the home. Nott replied, “Only my dead friends,” according to an FBI complaint.
The FBI reportedly seized as many as 40 human skulls in their raid of Nott’s home. One skull was adorned with a headscarf, while another was found on Nott’s bed.
A number of hip bones and spinal cords were allegedly being used as decor throughout the apartment.
The FBI claimed Nott is part of an illegal ring buying and selling stolen human remains across the U.S. and beyond.
Many of the human remains were allegedly stolen from the morgue at Harvard Medical School in Little Rock, Ark. The morgue’s manager was charged in June with buying and selling human remains online, including heads, brains, skin and bones from donated cadavers. A Harvard medical bag was reportedly found inside Nott’s home.
The FBI claimed Nott said he purchased the human remains from abroad to sell in the U.S.
Nott reportedly used Facebook to list the human remains for sale. Using the pseudonym William Burke — the same name of an infamous Irish serial killer who sold his victim’s bodies to be dissected — Nott allegedly described and priced the human remains on his social media page. The FBI said some of the postings are from as recently as June 2023.
The FBI was first notified of Nott’s alleged smuggling of human remains when police in East Pennsboro Township, Penn., were alerted to the presence of body parts inside the home of Enola resident Jeremy Pauley.
Pauley and Nott allegedly exchanged several messages, photos and videos of human remains before they were purchased by Pauley. The exact type of human remains sold by Nott to Pauley, and their price, has not been publicly disclosed.
Like Nott, Pauley was also reportedly in contact with an employee at the Harvard morgue.
Nott was arrested on Tuesday. So far, he’s been charged with possession of a firearm as a prohibited person. The FBI reportedly discovered loaded guns (including an AK-47), inert grenades and two plates for body armour in Nott’s home.
He is being held without bail in the Oldham County Jail in La Grange, Ky.
The investigation is ongoing.