A major Las Vegas museum exhibition has been forced to issue a strenuous defense after a Texas mother publicly leveled a shocking and emotionally wrenching accusation: that the remains of her deceased son were preserved through the process of plastination and put on display as part of the traveling anatomy show, Real Bodies.
The mother, Kim Erick, has insisted that a specific cadaver in the exhibit—a skinned, seated figure known as “The Thinker”—is the body of her son, Chris Todd Erick, who died in 2012 at the age of 23.
The Suspicious Circumstances of Death
The foundation of the mother’s distress lies in the original, ambiguous circumstances of Chris Erick’s passing. The young man was found deceased in his bed at his grandmother’s home in Midlothian, Texas, about 30 miles south of Dallas. Initially, police informed Kim that her son had died peacefully in his sleep after suffering two heart attacks, which they attributed to an undiagnosed heart condition, as reported by CBS News.
While Kim was still deep in grief, Chris’s father and grandmother moved quickly to arrange for his cremation, later presenting Kim with a necklace containing what she was told were some of his ashes.
However, Kim harbored intense and deepening concerns, which intensified when she received a set of police scene photographs. She claims these images revealed a series of troubling physical signs that were entirely omitted from the initial official report.
“Something very bad happened in that room!” she shared in a public Facebook post, detailing her suspicions. “They had Chris in there for two days before he died. The medical examiner who did the autopsy said Chris suffered two separate heart attacks. In my opinion, Christopher was tortured for the two days he was held in his grandmother’s house in Midlothian Texas. That is where Christopher died.”
Though a subsequent 2014 homicide investigation ultimately produced no actionable evidence of foul play, Kim remained unconvinced by the findings. “It’s not over. There’s too many unanswered questions. It’s a cover-up,” she insisted, refusing to accept the official closure.
A Mother’s Search Leads to ‘The Thinker’
Fast forward to 2018, Kim—who had tirelessly pursued her own research—visited Real Bodies, a touring anatomy exhibition that displays real human cadavers preserved through the technique of plastination. It was there that she encountered the skinned, seated figure known as “The Thinker” and became instantly convinced she was staring at the remains of her son.
“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.”
The figure labeled “The Thinker” appeared to display the exact same right-temple skull fracture she had seen detailed in Chris’s confidential medical records. Additionally, she noted that the shoulder area—where her son had a tattoo—had been surgically carved clean, which she believes was a deliberate, specific attempt to conceal his identity. The physical resemblance was too granular and traumatic to dismiss, immediately transforming her search for closure into a harrowing new chapter of investigation.
The Museum’s Vehement Denial
Following her explosive discovery, Kim Erick launched a public campaign, making an emotional plea and demanding that the exhibition allow DNA testing of the specimen.
Organizers of the Real Bodies exhibition rejected her demand. The exhibition’s owner, Imagine Exhibitions, Inc., was forced to issue a forceful statement to Lead Stories vehemently denying the allegations.
“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,” the company wrote. “All specimens are ethically sourced and biologically unidentifiable. We remain committed to ensuring that all exhibits meet the highest ethical and legal standards.”
In further support of the museum’s timeline, Lead Stories published archived photos of the specimen dating back to years earlier than Chris’s 2012 death. The publication also noted the highly technical, year-long process required for plastination, suggesting it would have been logistically impossible for Chris’s body to enter the exhibit so quickly after his passing.
A Disappearance Deepens Suspicion
Despite the museum’s firm timeline and denial, their actions following the allegations further complicated the narrative. Shortly after Kim’s claims were made public, the figure identified as “The Thinker” was quietly removed from the Las Vegas exhibit. Kim asserted that the body was then transferred to Union City, Tennessee, at which point she completely lost the ability to trace its location. The sudden disappearance of the body only served to deepen her suspicions regarding a potential cover-up.
“Chris was never abandoned in life, and I don’t want him abandoned in death either,” she stated, summarizing her unrelenting quest.
In July 2023, the discovery of more than 300 piles of unidentified cremated human remains in the Nevada desert opened a new, desperate avenue for the mother. Kim is now urgently calling for forensic testing of those remains to determine whether any contain traces of plastination compounds that could definitively link back to her son’s body, refusing to give up on the hope of reclaiming her son.
