Like a grisly scene from a movie, uncovered jars filled with tongues and other body parts were discovered home contractors and was reported to the Florida Police. Said collection was inside the home of a researcher and erstwhile professor when it was inspected by workers.
The remains were stocked in formaldehyde that had the preserved body parts including tongues that were acquired in the 1960s stashed away until discovered in 2020. The jars were perfectly hidden in a crawlspace. Each jar had one gallon filled with formaldehyde labelled with a name and date, to identify its bodily contents.
Quite later, the identity of Dr. Ronald Baughman, a former researcher and current professor at the University of Florida, was verified. Reports reveal that Dr. Baughman was involved with one of the university's Advanced Training Programs on Maxillofacial Surgery. This information was dug up by the Science Direct website, further explaining the presence of the jars and why it it need such specific storing conditions.
Was it foul play?
Finding jars with remains is not very usual leading the police to investigate more about the items. It is normal police procedure to check and verify before filing charges. But finding such things alway leads to suspicions of foul play, especially under these circumstances, with cases of serial killers who preserve their victims parts.
All the skin-crawling jars with human remains were connected to the work of Dr. Baughman, a former researcher and current professor at the University of Florida.
According to research, Dr. Baughman wrote studies over a long time and was the director of the university's Maxillofacial Surgery Advanced Training Programs.
Dr Baughman is a well-known pathologist and former academic at the University of Florida. He related to WCJB that those specimens were for research, so he brought them home to do further examination for his studies. The specimens need a cool area for storage, so he placed them there, and it remained kept in the area for a long time.
Officer Campos confirmed what Baughman said, saying that all the specimens were meant to be returned to the university it came from. The doctor's studies used the tongues to investigate thyroid and neck conditions.
When Baughman divorced, his ex-wife got ownership of the home. But she forgot about the jars with human body parts stored in the crawlspace.
Steve Orlando of the University of Florida said that Baughman taking the remains home, may or may not have been allowed. But, for sure it would have been surely disallowed to bring these jars outside of university premises.
Many federal and state laws are strict and that includes university rules that would prevent any of the jars taken home by faculty or researcher since it would not be very appropriate. Authorities cleared the case of the jars filled with preserved tongues and body parts, clarifying that there is no foul play. There isn't any word about the exact number of tongues in the jar, but authorities are doing conducting tests on the specimens.
