Former medical examiner Dr. Michael Berkland stopped paying his bills at Uncle Bob’s Storage in Pensacola and when a storage warrior won the bidding for the unit, he was shocked to find human brains and limbs inside. Authorities are trying to figure out if Berkland broke any laws.
When storage facilities auction off abandoned units, buyers bid without knowing what’s inside.
One buyer in Florida was horrified to open a locker and find the brains and other organs of more than 100 people.
The unit at Uncle Bob’s Storage in Pensacola belonged to former medical examiner Dr. Michael Berkland, who stopped paying his bill, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported.
It contained “a large collection of brains and human limbs,” state attorney Bill Eddins said, as well as tissue samples and parts of human hearts and lungs.
Some of the organs were stored in distinctly non-sterile containers like Tupperware, and even a Styrofoam soda cup from a gas station, according to the Panama City News Herald.
The buyer immediately informed the owner of Uncle Bob’s, who called the cops.
Most of the organs were apparently from private autopsies conducted by Berkland, Eddins said.
The state attorney’s office is investigating, but Berkland has not yet been charged.
“We’re in the process of reviewing the facts and researching the law to determine whether a crime has been committed,” Eddins said. “We do intend to talk to Dr. Berkland and learn his reasons for keeping body parts there.”
Berkland was fired from his duties in Okaloosa and Walton counties in 2003 for not completing autopsy reports on time.
He was previously licensed as a medical examiner in Missouri, but the license was revoked in 1999 because of falsified autopsy results.
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