Austin mortuary employee arrested for allegedly ‘experimenting’ on corpses

A North Austin mortuary employee is facing felony charges after allegedly experimenting on corpses and fraudulently obtaining death certificates.

Adeline Ngan-Binh Bui, 50, was charged with one count of state-jail felony abuse of a corpse and five counts of second-degree felony tampering with governmental records with intent to defraud or harm.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 7 these incidents go back to at least August 2022.

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A former embalmer at Capital Mortuary Services has alleged to TFSC that Bui had “fraudulently initiated and obtained” at least ten death certificates under his name and license number without consent.

He also has alleged that Bui was experimenting on “separated anatomical structures.” He listed the arms of an unknown dead person. The “experiment,” involved injecting formaldehyde into the arms and observing its effects over time on the severed limbs, according to the court documents.

A cease-and-desist letter was issued to the mortuary on April 10. The letter stated that the funeral home had “failed to meet building, health, and safety codes and would have to “immediately cease and desist all operations”. 

The Austin Police Department received eight death certificates that were allegedly signed by the former embalmer via an electronic signature, says court paperwork.

The former embalmer says he was not employed as a funeral director with Capital Mortuary Services, and instead was employed as a crematory operator, driver and embalmer.

He says he never accessed the Texas Electronic Vital Events Registrar (or TxEVER) to obtain those eight death certificates.

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Buie allegedly communicated with a former employee regarding a fraudulent certificate in December 2023 in which she included screenshots.

Bui allegedly wrote “let’s us[e] this update to monitor our experiment,” followed by photos of what police say were severed and detached arms in various stages of decomposition. 

TSFC investigators communicated with APD saying that Bui “then allowed the severed body parts to be placed in the crematory retort, where the body parts, in their dissected and disturbed state, would be cremated,” according to paperwork.

“Our criminal justice system is based on the presumption of innocence and a careful, critical evaluation of the evidence, facts, and their sources,” Bui’s legal team said in a statement to FOX 7. “This case involves complexities that are not immediately apparent and should not be sensationalized. Our legal team remains fully committed to defending and advocating for our client, Adeline Bui, with the expectation of fairness and due process.”

Capital Mortuary Services is now closed.