February 06, 2024
Jon Tuleya/PhillyVoice
The Mütter Museum received a package in the mail with a pair of jars containing preserved fetuses, authorities said. The remains have been sent to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Officer for further investigation.
An anonymous package sent to the Mütter Museum and opened by staff on Tuesday morning contained a pair of glass jars with two preserved fetuses, Philadelphia police and museum officials said.
Police were called to the museum at 19 S. 22nd St. around 11:35 a.m., investigators said. Police did not immediately confirm whether the fetuses were human. They were turned over to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office for further investigation, police said.
Mütter Museum curator Anna Dhody said the package was a typical brown mailing box that had been addressed to her without a return address. It was dropped off by a mail carrier at the museum's collections department on Monday. Dhody was not in the office that day, but retrieved the package on Tuesday morning. When she opened it, the first thing she found was a letter.
"I can confirm it was an anonymous letter. And the letter was signed just — 'retired physician,'" Dhody said by phone Tuesday afternoon, declining to share more information about the contents of the letter.
When the Mütter Museum receives human remains, it follows a formal acquisitions process that requires documentation, a review and standards for shipping biological specimens, Dhody explained that the unannounced donation and package clearly were not handled according to the museum's policies and best practices.
"There were two small jars," Dhody said. "Each jar was in a separate Ziploc bag, and because they were in the Ziploc bags, it just seemed best practice not to open the bag."
The jars with the fetuses contained fluid in them, although Dhody did not examine them to determine how they were preserved. She said it would be up to the medical examiners to figure out whether the fetuses are human remains.
"That's under investigation. Speaking as a trained forensic anthropologist and forensic sciences, I wouldn't say empirically that they were human. To my eye, they appeared to be human, but it will be up to the medical examiners to make that ultimate determination."
Police did not share any information about where the package may have originated and which mail carrier delivered it. Those details are now under investigation.
Founded in 1863 at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Mütter Museum is one of the nation's oldest medical history and science museums. It houses more than 30,000 medical specimens, including thousands of human remains and medical instruments that are displayed in public exhibits and held in storage facilities.
The museum has been in the public eye over the last year as it undergoes a contentious ethical review of its policies on the display of human remains — including human fetuses that are part of the Mütter's collections. Museum leaders have sought to reevaluate historical concerns about how its remains were acquired and whether they should be available for public viewing in contemporary museum setting. Many longtime supporters of the Mütter have questioned the museum's leaders over their aims and criticized their ethical review as a departure from the museum's mission.
Police said anyone with information about the investigation of the package the museum received can call central dectectives at (215) 686-3093 or call the police tip line at (215) 686-8477.
