Accused Necrophiliac May Have Violated Other Corpses

August 08, 2008

A former Hamilton County morgue employee is facing a one-year prison sentence, if convicted, on charges stemming from an incident that occurred over two decades ago, when the man allegedly had sex with a corpse.

According to police, the pieces of this bizarre puzzle began to fall into place last year, when DNA evidence exonerated convicted killer David Steffen of having raped Karen Range, a 19-year-old woman who was found dead in August 1982. Steffen admitted to murdering Range, but always denied the rape allegations. Nonetheless, a jury of his peers found him guilty of both charges, and he was sentenced to death.

Officials, who were convinced of Steffen's guilt in connection with the rape charges, were stunned when they looked over the DNA test results.

The mystery continued until late last month, when authorities matched the DNA to 55-year-old Kenneth Douglas, a convicted drug trafficker who had to submit his DNA in March after he violated the terms of his probation. When authorities looked into Douglas's background, they discovered that he had worked as an attendant at the Hamilton County morgue from 1976 to 1992.

When questioned by police, Douglas allegedly admitted to having had sex with Range's corpse. In addition, according to Local12.com, he also admitted to committing other "sex act," but claims he cannot remember the names of any of his victims.

Douglas made his first court appearance on July 29 on a single charge of gross abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony. During the proceeding, the prosecution alleged that Douglas, who had been in charge of checking Range's body into the morgue, had sex with her corpse prior to autopsy.

After listening to testimony from both sides, Judge William Mallory set Douglas's bond at $700,000 cash and continued the hearing until August 12.

According to Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier, investigators are currently re-examining 29 rape kits that were taken while Douglas worked at the morgue in an attempt to rule out the possibility of other wrongful convictions. They are also speaking with the directors of a funeral home where Douglas once worked.

"Dealing with a guy like this, you're tempted to call him some type of animal, but that's really not fair to animals because animals don't do things like this," Piepmeier told WTOL.com, adding, "This is just one sick dude."

Douglas has been unable to make bond and is currently being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center. If convicted, Douglas faces a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison.

Douglas's photo courtesy of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office

Comments

[Unamused]

Creepy story. Just to be overly pedantic, the prosecutor is quoted as saying "Dealing with a guy like this, you're tempted to call him some type of animal, but that's really not fair to animals because animals don't do things like this..."

Which is not true, according to this entry in the ever-amazing Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrophilia#Animals

The internet. Full of knowledge you probably never wanted to know...

[Bill]

That is twisted!

[Jamie]

Ugh. As if the family did not endure enough pain after her murder.. to find out that their loved one was violated even after her death, I can only imagine. In my opinion, rape is rape, regardless if the victim is alive or not.