The Yavapai County Attorney’s Office announced a jury found Walter Harold Mitchell guilty of 29 counts of abandonment or concealment of a dead body. The Seattle man was convicted after 24 body parts, including 5 human heads were found scattered in Arizona. The medical examiner at the scene said the “evidence tends to show the remains are from a medical institution intended for use in the educational and research field.”
Mitchell’s Future GenX business, used to obtain the body parts, closed down in 2020. He reportedly left Seattle with the remains of five individuals. According to the county attorney’s office, the body parts were marked with silver tags and had serial numbers on them, which are reportedly used for donor purposes. Mitchell reportedly used rented freezer space to store the body parts from “not less than 9 donors,” and when he left Washington, he transported the bodies in a U-Haul with dry ice.
The 61-year-old man was convicted of other charges relating to abandoning a corpse about two years after body parts were found scattered in a remote area. Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office reported that on Dec. 26, 2020, deputies were notified about the discovery of human remains near Prescott and searched the area for additional body parts.
The statement says Mitchell had a shed with a chest freezer inside where he kept the body parts. He reportedly admitted to dumping the remains in November 2020. He then reportedly sold the chest freezer and moved to Scottsdale, where he was arrested.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office learned that the remains were connected to the former Seattle-based business “Future GenX.” Mitchell owned and operated the company and the company reportedly “involved the management of cadavers for research.”
