A Las Vegas museum is pushing back against disturbing allegations made by a Texas mother who believes one of its plastinated cadavers is actually the body of her late son. The claim, which has resurfaced online in recent months, has reignited a years-long battle for answers surrounding a death she has never fully accepted.
Kim Erick insists that the remains of her son, Chris Todd Erick, who died in 2012 at age 23, were somehow used as part of the Real Bodies anatomy exhibition. The belief began with doubts about the official explanation of his death and later intensified when she encountered a skinned, seated figure known as “The Thinker” on display.
Chris was found dead in his bed at his grandmother’s home in Midlothian, Texas, roughly 30 miles south of Dallas. Police told Kim her son had died in his sleep after suffering two heart attacks caused by what they described as an undiagnosed heart condition. In the immediate aftermath, Chris’s father and grandmother arranged for his cremation while Kim was still reeling from the shock. She was later given a necklace containing what she believed were some of his ashes.
But Kim’s questions began almost immediately. When she eventually received police scene photographs, she said she saw troubling injuries that had never been mentioned — bruises, marks across his chest and abdomen, and other signs she interpreted as evidence of restraint or mistreatment.
In an emotional Facebook post, she wrote, “Something very bad happened in that room!” She expressed her belief that Chris may have been harmed in the days before his death, claiming he was “tortured for the two days he was held” at the residence. Despite her conviction, a 2014 homicide investigation found no evidence of foul play. The official ruling remained unchanged, leaving her deeply unsatisfied.
Refusing to accept the conclusions, Kim began her own research. In 2018, she visited Real Bodies, a touring exhibit known for its plastinated human specimens. There, she encountered a figure that shook her to the core. The seated cadaver nicknamed “The Thinker” bore what she believed to be the same right-temple skull fracture documented in Chris’s medical records. She also noticed that the area where her son had a tattoo appeared to have been cleanly removed — something she interpreted as deliberate concealment.
Seeing the figure, she later said, made her feel as though she was staring directly at her son’s dissected remains. It was a moment she described as “gut-wrenching,” one that sent her spiraling into grief and renewed determination.
Kim began a public campaign demanding that the Real Bodies exhibit allow DNA testing on the specimen. Organizers rejected the request immediately. They stated that the figure had been legally obtained in China and had been on display for more than two decades — long before Chris’s death. The owner of the exhibition, Imagine Exhibitions, Inc., issued a strong denial through Lead Stories, expressing sympathy for the family but insisting the allegations were entirely unfounded.
According to the company, all specimens were “ethically sourced and biologically unidentifiable,” and their records showed that “The Thinker” had been on display continuously in Las Vegas since 2004. Lead Stories also published archived photographs of the figure from years prior to Chris’s death, and pointed out that plastination is a lengthy process — often taking up to a year — making the mother’s theory impossible within the documented timeline.
Despite this, Kim’s suspicion only deepened when “The Thinker” was quietly removed from the Las Vegas exhibit shortly after her claims drew attention online. She said the specimen was transferred to Union City, Tennessee, but she soon lost the ability to track its whereabouts, something she found deeply troubling.
For her, the fight is not just about truth — it’s about dignity. “Chris was never abandoned in life, and I don’t want him abandoned in death either,” she said.
In July 2023, the discovery of more than 300 piles of unidentified cremated human remains in the Nevada desert reignited her concerns. She has since called for forensic testing to determine whether any of the remains contain plastination compounds that might support her belief that her son’s body was mishandled after death.
While the museum and investigators stand firmly behind documented evidence refuting her claims, Kim remains steadfast. Her search for answers continues, driven by grief, conviction, and a mother’s unwillingness to let her son’s story fade.