Masterpiece Theatre host's remains plundered by "bone pirates"

Say you're a distinguished essayist, broadcaster, and the host of one of public television's most successful shows. You live to a ripe old age and pass away quietly. All things considered, it sounds like it was a pretty nice way to go, right? Well, apparently for Alistair Cooke's family, all hell started breaking loose right after the host of Masterpiece Theatre died in March of 2004. According to this New York Daily News article, Cooke's bones were surgically removed right before he was cremated and sold to two tissue processing compaines for transplanting purposes.

The most horrific part of this story is that Cooke died of bone cancer; the body-snatching ring's leader, Michael Mastromarino, actually doctored Cooke's medical records so that the bones would be bought by those processing companies. So, not only were Cooke's and other people's bodies stripped of their bones, but people are walking around with Cooke's 95-year-old, cancer-filled bones inside them. Yipes.