Memorial Mortuary in Houston, Texas (KPRC/YouTube).
A Texas embalmer is facing an abuse of a corpse charge after she allegedly cut off a dead man’s penis and stuffed it in his mouth.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, authorities began investigating when the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 1 received a complaint from the Texas Funeral Service Commission. The complaint was lodged by a funeral director for Claire Brothers Funeral Home, which operates Memorial Mortuary and Crematory where the alleged incident occurred.
More from Law&Crime: ‘Found inside a suitcase’: Bedridden 80-year-old killed and stuffed into luggage by stranger after squatters take over her home and use it as crime base, cops say
The funeral director said employees alerted her that 34-year-old Amber Paige Laudermilk, a licensed embalmer, had mutilated a corpse. After learning the decedent 58-year-old Charles Roy Rodriguez was a registered sex offender, Laudermilk allegedly took a scalpel on Feb. 7, cut off part of his manhood and “stuffed it in his mouth.” She told an employee, a trainee, who was prepping another body at the time and witnessed the incident, “You didn’t see anything,” the affidavit said. The employee perceived Laudermilk’s manner to be “threatening,” according to cops.
When other employees went to go see the body, Laudermilk allegedly covered his groin area with a sheet and said he had “a lot going on with him.”
According to the sex offender registry, Rodriguez was convicted in 2008 of sexually assaulting a woman. He received 10 years of deferred adjudication, Constable Alan Rosen said in a statement.
“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.”
Rosen said Rodriguez’s sordid past does not excuse the defendant’s behavior.
“I don’t know the suspect’s past, but we have the utmost empathy for anyone who has been the victim of a sexual assault or is the family or friend of someone who has been the victim of a sexual assault,” Rosen said. “The facts clearly indicate she was angry and I hope after this is resolved in the courts, she gets the help she needs.”
Laudermilk turned herself into the Harris County Jail on Monday and has since posted a $5,000 bond. Her attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. Local NBC affiliate KPRC reports that she no longer works at the facility and the state will seek to suspend and/or revoke her embalming license.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
