--------------------------------------------
You will have to pardon the pun, but in a nutshell, Jean Stevens either paid, begged, threatened or coerced an individual to go Lime Hill Cemetery, located at the end of the street she lived on, Old Stagecoach Road in Wyalusing, PA, and on two different occasions - 10 yrs apart - she hired a man to secretly exhume the bodies of both her husband and her twin sister, June. Both individuals passed away from natural causes, and foul play was not suspected. Her twin passed away in 2009, and her husband, 1999.
--------------------------------------------
A case worker eventually turned her in to the authorities, and she has been completely cooperating with the investigation. Jean had the body of her twin sister, June, on the sofa in her living room, and the body of her husband was found on a sofa in a detached garage. Jean stated that she would talk to them, and put expensive perfume (uh- yeah!) on the body of her sister.
--------------------------------------------
In the GARAGE? Garages get very hot in the summer, and dead bodies do not keep well in the heat!
--------------------------------------------
A bit about funerary practices in the USA:
There several different levels or stages of embalming that are offered by most funeral homes. According to the wishes and the financial situation of the family of the deceased, you can opt for a very light or partial embalming, if the visitation or funeral is to be held almost immediately, or you can choose a full-on complete embalming, including a "head shot" for those with multiple viewings and an extended stay above ground.
--------------------------------------------
I am guessing, that since June Steven's obituary stated that she had a graveside funeral service, her body was only lightly embalmed - just enough to get her through a possible visitation. However... I reread the obituary, and no mention of a visitation was made. Considering the fact that no conventional funeral or visitation was held for this woman, I am assuming that she was, minimally, embalmed lightly. Contrary to popular belief, and with very few notable exceptions, even a full embalming serves only to keep a body from decomposing only long enough to get the individuals through a funeral.
--------------------------------------------
There are notable cases, such as Abraham Lincoln, Eva "Evita" Paron ("Don't Cry For Me Argentina") and Vladimir Lenin. To this day, the bodies of these individuals are presentable, and have not decayed. Eva Peron's body was tended to and continually touched up for weeks / months by a mortician who had some type of relationship with her body! Abraham Lincoln's morticians traveled on his funeral train, and because of the approaching spring weather, he had to be touched up before the train made each stop. Those bodies have been out of the public eye for decades, in the case of Eva Peron, and since 1865 in the case of Abraham Lincoln. To this day, Vladimir Lenin's body has been on display daily since his death in January 1924. The morticians that tend to his body have a very prescribed method to attend to the continual preservation of his body. If Gunther Van Hagen would have been around, somebody could have paid to have Lenin plastinated!
-------------------------------------------
This is the procedure used to tend to Lenin's body:
"The family of Lenin's embalmers states that the corpse is real and requires daily work to moisturise the features and inject preservatives under the clothes. Lenin's sarcophagus is kept at a temperature of 16 °C (61 °F) and kept at a humidity of 80 - 90 percent. The chemical used was referred to by the caretakers as "balsam", which was glycerine and potassium acetate. Every eighteen months the corpse is removed and undergoes a special chemical bath. The chemicals were unknown until after the fall of the Soviet Union, kept secret by authorities. The bath consists of placing the corpse in a glass bath with potassium acetate, alcohol, glycerol, distilled water, and as a disinfectant, quinine. This was the process used for all subsequent treatments of Lenin's body and continues to be used even now.[1
One of the main problems the embalmers faced was the appearance of dark spots on the skin, especially on the face and hands. They managed to solve the problem by the use of a variety of different reagents in between baths. For example, if a patch of wrinkling or discoloration occurred it was treated with an acetic acid diluted with water. Hydrogen peroxide could be used to restore the tissues' original colouring. Damp spots were removed by means of disinfectants like quinine or phenol.[1]
Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the continued preservation work was funded by the Russian government. At that point the government discontinued financial support and now private donations support the preservation staff."
--------------------------------------------
The following links offer a crash course in embalming:
Embalming techniques
http://embalming.net/
http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/scraig/embalming.html
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
Back to the story of Jean, June and Jimmy Stevens.
Needless to say, the bodies of Jean Steven's relatives received only minimal preservation techniques, and they would have maintained the bodies for most likely, less than a couple weeks.
--------------------------------------------
The authorities said that when they were tipped off, and discovered the bodies, they "in various stages of decay". I'm saying, "Ya think?" he he he
-------------------------------------------
Here is a link to the full story of how this woman obtained the bodies of her deceased husband and sister:
http://tinyurl.com/JeanStevensExhumed
---------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the actual original obituary from the funeral home that prepared the body of June M. Stevens, age 90
http://www.mchenryfuneralhomes.com/obits/?p=74
------------------------------------------------------------------
An on-line obituary or Jean's husband, Jimmy, could not be found, because he died in 1999, and that was when on-line obituaries were in their infancy.
--------------------------------
This is the article where the District Attorney determined that Mrs. Stevens would be allowed to keep the body of her deceased relatives, provided that she builds a crypt or a similar structure to store the bodies! Yes - that's what they told her, and that is what she did. However, the crypt that she had built looks like nothing more than a garage with a typical shingled roof and siding. June Stevens plans to have her own body placed in the crypt when her turn ad death's door arrives. Since the crypt is built on a typical residential property, I have to ask the question, "What happens to these bodies, and this crypt that doesn't look too permanent when the time arrives to sell this property?" There are laws about burials on private property, but permits can be obtained, in cases such as Elvis Presley on the grounds of Graceland, and The Von Trapp family on the Von Trapp Family Lodge Grounds in Stowe, VT (Where the 2011 HGTV Dream Home Giveaway was built!)
--------------------------------------------
The article that gives Jean Steven permission to keep the bodies if she builds the crypt:
http://tinyurl.com/JeanStevensKeeps
--------------------------------------------
In the past couple days, I have located the link that states that the man that exhumed these bodies for Jean was eventually arrested, and faces several misdemeanor charges. Jean Stevens, however, has not been charged in these exhumations. I did read in one article that they would not disclose whether she had received psychological counseling. I'm thinking she might need it!
--------------------------------------------
Once again, I have seen a picture of the 'crypt / garage' that she build on her property, but I can't relocate that link.
--------------------------------------------
In summary, I have several questions:
1) Has NO ONE walked into this woman's home, and seen a dead body sitting on the sofa in the past 10 years?
2) Did NO ONE see some stranger using most-likely odd equipment digging up recent graves? Removing vaults / caskets / bodies?
This is a link to Findagrave.com, the Lime Hill Cemetery where both of these bodies were buried - and subsequently exhumed: (Click on "Satelite view" and zoom in - you can see the headstones in the cemetery:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=515161&CScn=Lime+Hill+Cemetery&
--------------------------------------------
When a person places an entry on Findagrave.com for a small cemetery, they usually list all the names of the people buried in that cemetery. I look on the list, and found neither of these individuals. What's up with that? They should still have head stones in this cemetery, don't ya think?
--------------------------------------------
In addition, you can see in this photo that the town June resides in is just a street or two away (near the river), and that there is somewhat of a subdivision right around the corner of this cemetery. Did NO ONE drive by and see anything suspicious?
--------------------------------------------
3) Did the man that removed these bodies simply remove the bodies from their caskets, once he got them out of the ground, and throw the caskets back in the hole he dug, or did he take the caskets along with him to Jean's house?
--------------------------------------------
4) If he DID take the caskets along, are they, too, stored in the garage?
--------------------------------------------
5) Did NO ONE see him unloading bodies from a vehicle into June's house?
--------------------------------------------
6) The light embalming definitely did nothing in favor of the ambiance of this home, but it might have helped with maneuverability. Have you ever tried to move the limb of a deceased person after they have been embalmed? They are called "Stiffs" for a reason! VERY STIFF! I would have paid good money to see the man who exhumed these bodies (he is in his 60's!) and June - she is 91 - trying to get these STIFFS to sit on the sofa! Go ahead and try to get them to bend at the waist!
--------------------------------------------
Things that make me go...... HMMMMM!
--------------------------------------------
- Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment