Intercepted packages from Thailand held stolen body parts


An American tourist in Thailand attempted to send packages back home that contained body parts stolen from a medical museum inside of a Bangkok hospital.
Ryan McPherson, 31, said "he thought the body parts were bizarre and wanted to send them to his friends in the U.S.," Bangkok police Col. Chumpol Poompuang said. McPherson was questioned, and told the authorities he discovered the preserved items at a night market.
The packages were marked as containing toys, but actually held an adult heart, a baby's head, and a baby's foot, The Associated Press reports. Udom Kachintorn, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, says McPherson and his friend, 33-year-old Daniel Tanner, visited the hospital Thursday, but weren't seen on surveillance camera taking any of the items.
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Authorities believe that McPherson and Tanner are the same men who were behind the early-2000s video series Bumfights, in which homeless people were paid to brawl on camera. The pair could not be reached for comment.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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