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Thursday, Apr. 10, 2025

Is it legal to sell human remains as oddities in Minnesota?

Deanna Pistono, MinnPost
no

A 2024 bill made it a felony to sell human remains as oddities, a term used for unusual commodities such as taxidermy, bugs and bones.

HF3490 banned the sale of human remains under almost all circumstances in Minnesota. The only exceptions are to medical institutions/practitioners, companies registered with the Food and Drug Administration for research purposes, or to law enforcement, search and rescue units and other emergency management in order to train dogs to find dead bodies. 

On Jan. 3, Minnesotan Mathew Lampi was sentenced to 15 months in prison for interstate transport of stolen goods — in this case, human remains. One of these remains, sent to Lampi by “oddities” merchant Jeremy Lee Pauley, was the body of a stillborn child from Arkansas. In exchange for the body and $1,500, Lampi gave Pauley five human skulls.

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