Left: The Wicked Wonderland shop in Orange City, Fla. (Facebook). Right: Kymberlee Schopper (Volusia County Jail).
A Florida woman who runs a curio shop was allegedly selling something a little too authentic for law enforcement — real human remains .
Kymberlee Schopper, 52, is one of the owners of Wicked Wonderland in Orange City, Florida. While the store prides itself on its eclectic and “delightfully eerie” merchandise, police are accusing Schopper of knowingly selling “genuine human remains,” which is illegal.
In an arrest warrant obtained by WOFL, a local Fox affiliate, police said Schopper’s business partner “confirmed that the store had multiple human bone fragments, all purchased from private sellers.”
According to police, Schopper allegedly claimed the bone fragments were parts of “educational models,” for which she had documentation.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that the case first came to light in December 2023 when a local woman tipped off police to Wicked Wonderland’s offering of real bone fragments on its Facebook Marketplace page. According to the arrest warrant, police found a number of items for sale that were described on the page as “human” bone fragments.
The warrant included the items and prices of several different kinds of bone fragments: Two human skull fragments, $90; human clavicle and scapula, $90; human rib, $35; human vertebrae, $35; and a partial human skull, $600.
When questioned by police after the report was filed, Schopper’s business partner Ashley Lelesi reportedly told officers that the shop had been knowingly selling human bones for several years. According to the warrant, Lelesi “confirmed that the store had multiple human bone fragments, all purchased from private sellers, and mentioned she has documentation for these transactions but could not provide it at that moment. She described the bones as genuine human remains and delicate in nature.”
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that Lelesi was “nervous” during the police’s visit, and that she did not know that selling human remains was against the law.
When authorities questioned Schopper, she reportedly told them that the remains were “educational models,” which were legal to sell under Florida law. But Orange City Police Captain Sherif El-Shami told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that no matter where the remains were purchased, it was still illegal to sell them in Florida.
The paper reported that Lelesi will also face charges but has not been arrested yet.
The bones, per the arrest affidavit, were confiscated by police and brought to the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office where they were examined and analyzed. WOFL reported that the skull fragment and partial skull were likely archaeological finds. Other bone fragments were estimated to be 100 and 500 years old.
The investigators concluded their report by determining that “Schopper knowingly purchased and listed human bones for sale through Facebook Marketplace and their business website.”
After a 15-month long investigation into Wicked Wonderland’s “oddities,” Schopper was charged with the purchase or sale of human tissue, a felony. She was booked into the Volusia County Jail on April 10 and posted $7,500 bond. Schopper is scheduled to be arraigned on May 1.
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