Authorities in Pennsylvania are offering a $10,000 reward for an unsolved case involving a woman's embalmed head found in a wooded area near a roadway in 2014.
Last Friday, Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers said it will match a $5,000 reward offered by the Beaver County Detective Bureau and Economy Borough police for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for leaving the head in the woods.
The $10,000 reward is available only for the week of December 11 through 18.
The human remains are said to be those of a white woman who was believed to be at least 50 years old. The unknown female had curly, whitish-gray hair and a full set of teeth. An investigation by the Beaver County coroner indicated that the head had been embalmed, according to Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers.
"It is believed that the head was in a funeral home, embalmed and prepped for viewing," an announcement on the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers' website read.
Another detail was released by investigators: The eyes had been removed from the head's eye sockets and replaced by red, rubber balls.
Crime Stoppers said the rubber balls were placed into the empty sockets and covered with eye caps.
"The eye caps are reported to be general equipment used for embalming. In cases of organ donation, the State of Pennsylvania does not remove the eye-balls; only the corneal tissue is removed," the Crime Stoppers release said. "Some states may remove the eyes: however, it has been found that the eyes are not replaced with red rubber balls. Research has indicated that this has not been heard of and not a common practice."
A 2017 Reuters story on the case said the balls were marked only with the word "CHINA."
Kevin Moran, an embalming instructor at the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service in New York, told Reuters that such balls "are not used in either the funeral profession or in organ donor networks."
Additional details about the head released by Crime Stoppers say that it was cleanly cut in the frontal part of the neck by a cut across the trachea and carotid arteries. The spinal cord was also precisely cut, away from the brain, while the skin on the neck was "crudely cut and jagged" in a manner not consistent with the other cuts.
The reward available this week for information on the cold case comes on the anniversary of the head's discovery. The Beaver County Times reported a "school-aged boy" found the unidentified head while he was walking near the wooded area on December 12, 2014. Investigators estimated that the head had been in the place of discovery for a week to one month.
Anyone with information is urged to anonymously contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or online at p3tips.com.
Newsweek reached out to the Beaver County Detective Bureau for further information and comment.
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