A Florida woman was arrested for using Facebook Marketplace to sell human remains

A Florida woman is being charged with a crime after authorities claim she was using Facebook Marketplace and her business to buy and sell human bones.

In Volusia County, Kymberlee Schopper, 52, was arrested Thursday and charged with buying or selling human tissue and organs, according to court documents. Her business, Wicked Wonderland, is a curio store in Orange City that specializes in strange art, gothic antiques, and preservation services.

In 2023, the Orange City Police Department started looking into the store after getting a report that it was posting human remains on its Facebook page. Officers discovered numerous advertisements selling bones, skull fragments, and other human parts for sale, totaling $850, according to an arrest document.

A human rib cost $35, a human vertebrae cost $35, a human clavicle and scapula cost $90, two pieces of human skulls cost $90, and a partial human skull was advertised for $600.

In an interview with police, Ashley Lelesi, 33, co-owner of Wicked Wonderland, told detectives that the store had been selling bones for a number of years and that she was unaware that it was against the law in Florida. The bones were authentic, she maintained, and had been purchased from private vendors. During the interview, Lelesi was unable to produce the documentation that she claimed to have.

Lelesi gave permission for officers to take five pieces of bone from the business. One of the pieces of skull, she explained, had already sold for $50.

Schopper claimed the bones were instructional models, which are allowed to be sold in Florida, when he and Lelesi re-met with the authorities. Both women, however, were disappointed to be informed that the remains could not be returned since they were now being used in the investigation, according to the affidavit.

“A mother and daughter team who revel in the madness of the strange and unusual; the dark and macabre,” according to the website for Wicked Wonderland, operate the store. Additionally, according to the website, both ladies have medical training and a love of studying anatomy and pathology.

The pieces of bone were delivered to Dr. Jonathan D. Bethard at the Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Laboratory at the University of South Florida. Tests revealed that the remains, one of which was hundreds of years old, most likely belonged to two distinct people.

On a $7,500 bond, Schopper was freed from the Volusia County Jail on Friday. The date of her arraignment is set for May 1. It’s unknown whether she has a lawyer. Although her custody status has not yet been established, Lelesi has also been charged.

The case is still being investigated.