A Texas woman has been accused and charged with abusing a corpse. Amber Paige Laudermilk, an embalmer in Houston, has been accused of using a scalpel to castrate the body of a registered sex offender.
According to NBC News, Laudermilk was working as an embalmer at Memorial Mortuary & Crematory in Houston when she used a scalpel on Charles Roy Rodriguez’s body. Rodriguez, a registered sex offender, was charged with sexual assault in 2001.
According to police reports and NBC News, two employees saw the alleged crime. According to authorities, Laudermilk was seen stabbing Rodriguez twice in the groin in the cremation room “before she cut off his penis and placed it in his mouth”. According to the report, Laudermilk told the first witness, “You didn’t see anything”. The witness “perceived to be as threatening”.
A second witness arrived later and noted that the body’s groin area was “disfigured”.
Laudermilk turned herself in on Tuesday and is being held at the Harris County Jail. According to NBC, she has yet to post her $5,000 bond.
Harris County Constable Alan Rosen told NBC News that regardless of how one felt about Rodriguez, laws require that his body be treated with dignity.
“This case is about two troubled people: the victim who was a registered sex offender and the defendant, who is accused of viciously attacking his dead body,” Rosen said. “No matter what one thinks of his life, the law requires that he be treated with dignity in death.”
The incident took place last month.
