A museum accused by a grieving mother of displaying her son’s body has formally responded to the explosive allegations.
For nearly eight years, Kim Erick has insisted that the Real Bodies exhibition in Las Vegas has been showcasing what she believes are the plastinated remains of her son, 23-year-old Chris Todd Erick, who died in 2012.
Chris’s death was officially ruled a suicide after a toxicology report found a lethal amount of cyanide in his system.
Before those results, authorities believed he had died in his sleep at his grandmother’s home after suffering two heart attacks linked to a heart defect, per Yahoo.
But when Kim later requested police photographs from the scene, her suspicions grew.
She said the images showed bruises, lacerations, and what appeared to be a chair fitted with straps, fueling her belief that something violent had happened before Chris’s death.
Adding to her distress, Kim says she never had the chance to hold a funeral.
Her ex-partner, Chris’s father, arranged an unexpected cremation while she was in shock and grieving.
Todd Erick. Credit: Find A Grave.
A 2014 homicide investigation ultimately produced no evidence of foul play.
But Kim says she found new reason for suspicion in 2018, when she visited the Real Bodies exhibit and saw a skinned, seated figure known as The Thinker.
She became convinced she was looking at her son.
The display features 20 plastinated human specimens shown without skin to highlight anatomy and physiology.
But Kim says the resemblance was overwhelming.
“I knew it was him,” she told The Sun.
“It was unbelievably painful. My words cannot describe how this shook me and my family to its core. I was looking at pictures of my son’s skinned, butchered body. It is gut-wrenching.”
Kim claims the specimen bears a skull fracture she says matches her son’s head injury and alleges that the area where Chris once had a tattoo appeared shaved or removed on the display.
She also said the body was later moved to Tennessee, something she says no one has been able to explain or verify.
Museum Denies All Claims
The exhibition’s owner, Imagine Exhibitions, Inc., issued a statement to Lead Stories denying the allegations outright:
“We extend our sympathy to the family, but there is no factual basis for these allegations. The referenced specimen has been on continuous display in Las Vegas since 2004 and cannot be associated with the individual named in these claims.
“All specimens are ethically sourced and biologically unidentifiable.
"We remain committed to ensuring that all exhibits meet the highest ethical and legal standards.”
The company has previously stated that its plastinated bodies were sourced from China and entered the exhibit roughly 20 years ago – long before Chris’s death.
Lead Stories also found archived photos of the specimen that predate 2012, supporting the museum’s timeline.
They additionally noted that the plastination process can take up to a year, making it impossible for Chris’s body to have entered the exhibit so soon after his death.
Real Bodies -'The Thinker'. Credit: Change.org.
A Search With No Answers
Kim says the figure is no longer visible in Tennessee, leading her to a new fear: that Chris may instead be among the hundreds of unidentified cremated remains discovered earlier this year in Nevada.
However, investigators have provided no evidence linking Chris to those remains.
More than a decade later, Kim continues seeking answers – but so far, there is nothing to substantiate that her son’s body was ever part of the Real Bodies exhibition.