Cancer Research - What a Wonderful Gift to Cancer Research

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"I sold her a boy. I don't know about that," Debbie says of Laura Hess' death. "It is just terrible when the greed starts immediately after somebody dies." The funeral home agreed to donate Laura's bladder to cancer research, and all other body parts would be cremated as planned. It took more than two months for Megan Hess to get back in touch with Debbie.

Debbie Schum waited a long time to receive the cremated ashes of her friend, LoraLee Johnson. When she did, she felt relieved to finally take them home with her. But then, she got a call from the FBI.

We first aired this episode in 2020. Earlier this month, Megan Hess and Shirley Koch were sentenced for their crimes. We've included updates about the case in this version of the episode.

To learn more, check out Elena Saavedra Buckley’s article, “‘None of this happened the way you think it did.’”

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