A Texas mother is demanding that the “Real Bodies” exhibit perform a DNA test on one of its preserved bodies that she insists belongs to her 23-year-old son, who died in suspicious circumstances in 2012.
On Nov. 10, 2012, Chris Erick, 23, was found dead in his bed at his grandmother’s home in Midlothian, Texas, about 30 miles south of Dallas, where he had been living at the time.
At the time, police informed his mother – Kim Erick – that her son had died in his sleep after suffering two heart attacks, which they attributed to an undiagnosed heart condition, CBS News reports.
Two days later, the grieving mother viewed the body of her son at a local funeral home and then – without consulting her first – Chris’s father and grandmother arranged for his cremation, giving Erick a necklace containing what she was told were some of his ashes.
‘Something very bad happened’
Despite the official explanation, Erick remained unsettled.
Her concerns intensified when she received a set of police scene photographs, which she said showed a series of troubling physical signs that were never mentioned in the initial report.
“Something very bad happened in that room!” she shared in a Facebook post that included graphic images of the young man, dead in his bed. “They had Chris in there for two days before he died. The medical examiner who did the autopsy said Chris suffered two separate heart attacks. In my opinion, Christopher was tortured for the two days he was held in his grandmother’s house in Midlothian Texas. That is where Christopher died.”
Cyanide toxicity
According to Erick, the images revealed extensive bruising, lacerations, and what appeared to be clear restraint marks across her son’s chest, arms, and abdomen. She also described seeing what looked like dry cyanide residue on his lips.
‘It’s a cover-up’
“The police made me feel crazy,” Smith said at the time, per CBS. “Finally, I got a letter from the district attorney that he was taking it to a grand jury to let them decide.”
But in 2014, an Ellis County grand jury reviewed the case as part of a murder investigation, but no charges were filed, and the suicide ruling by undetermined means remained unchanged.
“It’s not over. There’s too many unanswered questions. It’s a cover-up,” she added.
‘The Thinker’
Determined to uncover the truth, Erick started her own research, focusing on the distinct skull fracture her son had sustained. That investigation ultimately led her to Real Bodies, a touring anatomy exhibition known for displaying real human cadavers preserved through a process called plastination.
As she studied the publicly available images from the exhibit at Las Vegas’ Horseshoe Hotel, she was startled by one particular body.
The figure labeled “The Thinker” appeared to display the same right-temple skull fracture she had seen in Chris’s medical records.