Cover Up: Body Brokers

For eight years, Megan Hess ran Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in the small town of Montrose, Colorado. She promised clients discounts on normally expensive cremations, a seeming kindness in a town where many are poor. But in the back of the funeral home, Megan’s elderly mother Shirley was actually dismembering the dead. And then Megan was selling the body parts – heads, torsos, legs – to companies that claim to do medical research. The families who trusted Megan –- they had no idea what she was really up to. When they came to pick up the ashes of their loved ones, they instead received a mixture of ashes of various people. They had no idea of their betrayal until some received a strange phonecall from the FBI. Megan and Shirley were body brokers, trading on a dark network where people buy and sell bodies. What exactly were the two women after? Who was really buying those stolen bodies, and why? Subscribe now to unlock all shows on The Binge and you’ll be the first to access Cover Up: Body Brokers as soon as it drops on January 2, 2024. A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Small town funeral director Megan Hess is so involved in her community, so generous and compassionate to grieving families. But one of her employees starts to suspect things are not as Megan claims. Unlock all episodes of Cover Up: Body Brokers, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free. Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Cover Up: Body Brokers show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the wake of 9/11, a series of letters laced with a deadly powder called anthrax appeared on the desks of prominent journalists and politicians in New York City and Washington D.C. Five people were killed, and seventeen more were infected. It was the worst case of bioterrorism in American history, setting off a surge of finger pointing, xenophobia, and fear. But what started as an unprecedented case soon turned into an unsettling mystery. Who had sent these letters? And why? On season 4 of Cover Up, we trace the FBI’s costly investigation into the attacks, which was stacked with a seemingly endless series of false leads, damaging leaks, and embarrassing blunders. Through revealing interviews with victims, agents, and suspects, we unpack the case in its messy entirety, all with an eye toward the question that remains today: Did the FBI identify the true killer, or is this case still unresolved? Subscribe now to unlock all shows on The Binge and you’ll be the first to access Cover Up: The Anthrax Threat as soon as it drops on March 1, 2024. A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices