Suit: Rosemont donation center might have sold man's body parts

A former northwest suburban body donation center that was at the center of a federal investigation last year is facing another lawsuit from a woman claiming her husband’s body parts were desecrated and possibly sold for profit instead of used for scientific research.

Sonja Sisemore arranged to have her husband Samuel Sisemore’s body donated to medical school students through the Biological Resource Center of Illinois in Rosemont after he died of a heart condition in Rockford on Dec. 6, 2013, according to the suit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court.

About two weeks later, she received a package with a certificate of cremation and a box of ashes that she recalled as “feeling very light,” the suit claims.

Sisemore called the center and left a message to ask about the seemingly quick turnaround, but no one ever called back, the suit says.

In January 2015, FBI agents raided the Biological Resource Center’s facility at 9501 Devon Ave. in Rosemont, the Sun-Times reported previously. Federal investigators emailed Sisemore in April saying her husband’s remains had turned up during their search, the suit says.

The company stopped accepting bodies July 31, according to a message at the now-defunct office’s phone line. No criminal charges have been filed, but the FBI says its investigation is ongoing.

Sisemore alleges the company “mishandled, abused, desecrated and possibly sold” her husband’s body parts. The suit also questions the authenticity of the ashes they sent her, calling the company’s conduct “so extreme and outrageous as to exceed all possible bounds of decency.”

Her five-count suit is at least the fourth against Biological Resource Center since last May, including one that sought class-action status. She is seeking more than $250,000 in damages.