Former Washington businessman accused of scattering body parts in Arizona, cops say

Deputies have arrested a former owner of a cadaver storage business in Washington after human remains were found scattered in Arizona, according to a news release from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

Two human limbs were reportedly found near Prescott on Dec. 26, the release said. Deputies searched the area and recovered 24 limbs total, according to the release.

A hunter in the Camp Wood area reported finding two severed human heads the next day, the release said. Another three heads were found after deputies searched the rest of the area, according to the release.

Investigators determined that the remains “were likely connected to a business based in Seattle, Washington, identified as ‘Future GenX,’” the release said. The company managed cadavers for research projects before it closed, according to the release.

With the help of the Seattle Police Department, detectives learned that Walter Mitchell, 59, the company’s former owner, reportedly took five bodies with him when he left Seattle in 2020, the release said. They tracked him to Prescott/Chino Valley and then to Scottsdale, where he was arrested Tuesday morning, according to the release.

“This situation is unimaginable, and I am so sorry for the families whose loved ones were donated to research and treated in such a horrific fashion,” Sheriff Scott Mascher said in the release.

Mitchell was booked into Yavapai County Jail on 28 counts of “knowingly [moving] a dead human body or parts of a human body with the intent to abandon or conceal the dead human body or parts,” the news release said.

This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Former Washington businessman accused of scattering body parts in Arizona, cops say."