Free Republic

Dentures of two of the world's most famous composers have allegedly been stolen from their graves by a Slovak man who boasts of his crimes on YouTube saying he intends to use the purloined choppers to start a museum. Ondrej Jajcaj, the self confessed thief, says the teeth he extracted from the tombs of the famous 19th century composers Johann Strauss and Johannes Brahms will be part of an exhibition of hundreds of objects plundered from more ordinary graves. The man was identified in Austrian media reports simply by his initials, O.J. But a search on the internet reveals Ondrej...

ROCKY GAP, Va. - A high school science teacher is charged with breaking into a century-old funeral vault, handling the remains of a corpse, and taking photographs of two students holding the bones inside the crypt. Authorities have charged Candace Longworth, 31, of Bastian, with a felony charge of disturbing and defiling a dead person from a place of burial and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The teenagers have been charged as juveniles. "It's not anything anyone would call school-related," said Tazewell County Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Lee. "It's just bizarre." Longworth has been suspended...

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) A woman accused of digging up and taking her boyfriend's cremated remains more than a decade ago and drinking the beer that was buried with them was sentenced to 60 days in jail Monday, a prosecutor said. Karen Stolzmann, 44, was sentenced on a misdemeanor charge of possession of stolen property, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco said. She had faced up to nine months in jail on the charge, and DeCecco had recommended a six-month sentence. ``I kind of thought she should be punished more,'' he said. ``Under these kinds of circumstances, this is just unexcusable.''...

Amnesty International Outraged at Execution of a 16 Year Old Girl! Public Statement Amnesty International today expressed its outrage at the reported execution of a girl who is believed to be 16 years old, Ateqeh Rajabi, in Neka in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, on 15 August, for "acts incompatible with chastity" (amal-e manafe-ye 'ofat). Ateqeh Rajabi was reportedly publicly hanged on a street in the city centre of Neka. Amnesty International is alarmed that this execution was carried out despite reports that Ateqeh Rajabi was not believed to be mentally competent, and that she reportedly did not have...

NEWARK, New Jersey - A raid on the basement temple of a religious sect uncovered human body parts allegedly stolen from cemeteries and the remains of several animals that may have been sacrificed by worshippers. The human remains, including three skulls, were found Monday in caldrons set up on altars in a building owned by Eddie Figueroa, 56, who authorities believe is a high priest in the Palo Mayombe sect. Figueroa and his son, Eddie Figueroa Jr., 35, pleaded innocent Tuesday to possession of stolen property and desecration of human remains. Authorities found the animal remains later in the day...