The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "body parts" ...
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The Curious Case of Sgt. Drenth
A decorated and highly respected Phoenix police sergeant is found dead on the ground in an alley near the State Capitol complex, the victim of a shotgun blast to the head. The weapon is discovered on his body in a manner which several first-responders later claim looked "staged" by another party or parties. Almost a year after Sgt. Sean Drenth's death, the county Medical Examiner rules that the manner of his death was a "suicide," not a "homicide" or "undetermined." The enclosed two-part series was published after the reporter investigated this complex and ultimately tragic case for several months. A few weeks ago, the county Medical Examiner personally told Sgt. Drenth's widow that he personally will revisit the case in light of the revelations in the story and other relevant reasons.
Tags: Death; police sergeant; shotguns
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Human Tissue Donation
It’s a billion dollar business that begins with an act of generosity: When someone or their family agrees to donate a person’s body, for free, after death. When they click the “donor” box on their driver’s license application, most organ donors don’t realize that they have also agreed to donate their tissue. They’ve made a legally binding promise that a private company can take skin, bones, tendons, ligaments and anything that’s not a living organ—and turn it into for-profit medical products. In a four part radio series that aired in July 2012, NPR Correspondent Joseph Shapiro highlighted this little known industry and the shortcomings in regulation that raise concerns among donors, medical professionals, and government officials at many levels. The series was part of a collaboration between NPR’s Investigative Unit and the International Consortium for of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity.
Tags: Human tissue donation; organ donors; ICIJ; Center for Public Integrity
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What Killed Arafat?
This 50-minute film was the result of a nine month long cold case investigation into the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, Palestine's iconic, revolutionary leader. After obtaining Arafat's entire original medical files, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, led by producer and reporter Clayton Swisher, crossed continents to track down and interview the French, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors who had worked to save Arafat's life. Part I of "What Killed Arafat?" was able to easily shatter popular myths about what caused Arafat's precipitous decline from the onset of his illness on October 12, 2004 until his death on November 11th. Testimony from Arafat's doctors conclusively ruled out liver cirrhosis, cancer, even rumors of HIV. The scientific, evidence-based discoveries made in the Part II result from the work performed by a team of forensic pathologists, toxicologists, and radiation physicists from the University Center for Legal Medicine and Institute for Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working without payment, they agreed to run a battery of sophisticated tests on a large gym bag containing Arafat’s last personal effects. The scientists discovered significant levels of reactor-made Polonium 210 contaminating areas of Arafat's personal effects that came into contact with his biological fluids. When the final results came back in late June, Al Jazeera hosted Mrs. Arafat in Doha to watch the Swiss explain the results on set. Upon witnessing their testimony, Ms. Arafat made a resolute, unanticipated surprise announcement, calling on the Palestinian Authority to exhume her husband's body for testing. Yasser Arafat’s body was exhumed on November 27, 2012 so that the final samples could be retrieved. Whether the causes of Arafat's death are determined to be natural, inconclusive—or even murder—suffice it to say that Al Jazeera’s "What Killed Arafat?" and the resulting investigations and exhumation will have inched the world closer to understanding what did not, and possibly for the first time, what did claim the life of this historic and controversial personality.
Tags: Science; death; biology; investigation; exhumation; testing
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Cracks in the Empire: Inside Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson, the gold standard of corporate America for its single-minded devotion to its customers, is fending off federal, state and consumer allegations that the company harmed and cheated the ill. The Press found that the New Brunswick, NJ-based copmany set its sights in the last decade on making record profits but at a high cosst. Its main OTC pain reliever company was shut down in part for being too dirty. Thousands of hip replacement patients say the device failed inside their bodies, causing them great pain.
Tags: Johnson & Johnson; pain relievers; drugs; pharmaceuticals
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Brian Ross Investigates: Bodies: The China Connection
The investigation uncovered black market trade that supplies bodies of Chinese executed prisoners for display in Premiere Exhibitions' for-profit "Bodies" show in cities around the world. The shows have been seen by millions and has brought huge profits to the Atlanta-based company.
Tags: China; inmate rights; black market; body factory; skeleton; plastinate; body parts
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Lamu Oil Drilling Worries Marine Bodies
"This story shows how international oil companies engage into oil exploration activities in different parts of the world and especially in developing countries without regard to international principles fundamental to sustainable development."
Tags: na
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The Body Show
The authors investigated reports that an exhibit of human bodies at the Masonic Center in San Francisco were leaking. Tests revealed the fluid to be a mix of silicone, used in the preserving process, and liquefied human fat. Research led the authors on a global investigation as they uncovered a market in human corpses. A large part of the investigation focused on the origin of the bodies, whether there was consent to use the bodies in the show from the deceased or next of kin in some cases the cause of death.
Tags: The Body Show; Gunther Von Hagens; plastination; human exhibit; Masonic Center; muscular structure; FOIA
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The Body Market
"The tissue banking trade has become a lucrative industry that operates with virtually no regulation or enforceable industry standards. Tissue banks approach families with heart-wrenching stories about how their donations will save lives. Grief-stricken family members who agree to donation for altruistic reasons are given little or no information about how bodies, or body parts, will be used. They also are typically not told that their loved ones will be parceled out and sold in parts to a mix of for-profit and nonprofit companies. When things go wrong, families are stunned to learn that they have almost no recourse."
Tags: tissue donation; transplants; research; federal law; disease transmission; Guidestar; 990s
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Border Killings
While digging for evidence in the backyard of a suspected drug dealer in Mexico, authorities came across the bodies of 11 people, all believed to be involved in drug trafficking. But what's more shocking is the fact that the murders were linked to Mexican police officers and a U.S.-paid FBI informant. According to the questionnaire, "our investigation helped expose the complicity of the U.S. government as its agents listened live while their own informant took part in the killing of at least threee suspected drug traffickers."
Tags: informants; FBI; drug trafficking; Juarez
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"Without a trace: People go missing, killers go free"
A 10-part series revealed that "because of ignorance, indifference or poor training, police in Washington state and around the nation routinely fumble missing-person reports." In its investigation, the newspaper built its own database of missing persons cases using reports from more than 270 police agencies statewide. The newspaper also built a second database of unidentified bodies through autopsy records and other reports.
Tags: missing persons reports; missing children; cold case; police; police records; National Crime Information Center; CAR; computer-assisted reporting; unsolved murder; homicide; unidentified body; Freedom of Information Act