Chop Shop

by Kathy Braidhill, K. Braidhill

An award-winning investigative journalist for the Pasadena Star News details the crimes of David Sconce, a man whose twisted greed and blind ambition drove him to commit atrocities, when he used the facilities at his family-owned cremation parlors to butcher bodies and sell the parts. 16 pages of never-before-published photos. Featured on Hard Copy.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

366 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story about what goes on the in mortuary business.

Hammers and crow bars to rip gold teeth out,
selling body parts, moving a body at the last minute
from a $5000 casket to a $400 one...

Even murder.

It's a bit gritty, but truth is stranger than fiction.
Some people may remember when it was front page news.

Two other books were written about this story:
A family business and
Ashes: the most shocking true crime of our time

In August 2006 David who had been out of prison for some
time, was arrested again.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a little dry in places, I found the idea of multiple charges for a funeral home/crematorium fascinating. They had their own tissue/ organs donor surgery. They did multiple body cremations. And they treated each body as a sack of garbage. To think people’s loved ones where treated so miserably after death made my stomach turn in places. Nothing like liters grave robbing to make for some interesting reading!

[Stephen McQuiggan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true story of a respectable funeral home that dealt in multiple cremation, body mutilation, organ removal, and the pulling of dental gold behind closed doors. There's also the dishing out of beatings to competitors, and a few unsolved murders. A world of desecration and parasitism hiding behind a pious facade of wholesome apple pie bullshit - amazing how lax regulations can help fertilize such immorality. The title may seem a bit tacky - until you realize the name of the funeral home is Lamb. Nice.

[Judi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book chronicles the obscene violations of the dearly departed by a long established Pasadena Ca. funeral home. My grandparents and great grandparents remains were entrusted to The Lamb Funeral Home. A third generation relative, David Sconce became involved in the family business in the early 80's. He committed, solicited employee assistance in mass cremations to offer a cheaper price. He participated, solicited unauthorized organ harvest from corpses. Commingled cremains. Committed murder. The number of crimes is beyond belief. This book did flesh out my memories of this time and the trial. The last quarter of the book got bogged down with the multitude of charges, too many accomplices and general tedium. Bottom line David Sconce, the smug, cocky criminal, got a slap on the wrist and was sentenced to life on parole. No justice.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging, interesting read about a very complicated criminal case that went sideways several times. This isn't for everyone; the crimes themselves are pretty nauseating. With that said, the characters involved are fascinatingly weird; the legal issues are formidable; and the author captured it all very well without bogging down. Well worth your time, if you can stomach it

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of interesting for the first three quarters then completely dies out. Just fizzles. Perhaps because it was written before all the trials were over, so there really is no ending.

[Jeffrey Aydelotte]

I read this book about 20 years ago when I was preparing to go to mortuary college. I remember asking myself "how can anyone in a respectable profession, stoop so low". Unfortunately, there are people who do prey on the grieving and take advantage of people in one of the lowest and difficult times of their lives. It is because of people like them that the funeral industry is heavily scrutinized, looked down on. It is because of people like them that I get families who are extremely concerned that they are getting the cremated remains of their loved one and not a box containing the remains of several people. There are plenty of good and trustworthy, professional funeral directors. I did find the book an entertaining read. Fortunately, people like that do not last long in the industry, but not before giving the industry a black eye.

[Lyndsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love true crime, so this is a great book. Pretty Freaky. Makes me NOT want to be buried.

[Miranda Mckinlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness who knows what goes on behind closed doors