Skeleton Stories - Season 1, Episode 11 - Black Magic - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[EERIE MUSIC] CORNELL WOMACK: When FBI agents discover a secret altar lined with bone-filled cauldrons--
DAN GARRABRANT: And each cauldron was like a big, giant witches cauldron. CORNELL WOMACK: --they wonder if these could be the remnants
of a human sacrifice. One of the key questions that they must ask, are these body parts part of a homicide?
CORNELL WOMACK: Or had the bones been stolen from local grave sites? DEAN MAGLIONE: The final resting place is a sanctity
that shouldn't be disturbed. CORNELL WOMACK: This discovery offers new hope to a grieving family.
We just want to be able to say, this is my father, and I want him back. CORNELL WOMACK: And only forensic anthropologist Gina
Hart can solve the mystery. GINA HART: I was overwhelmed by this case. I didn't know what was in the cauldrons
before we opened them up. [THEME MUSIC] [CHANTING] CORNELL WOMACK: On an unusually warm,
summer day in Newark, New Jersey, local police and FBI agents prepare to raid a local botanica,
a shop for religious items. They're here because an informant told them that something sinister is going on inside.
DAN GARRABRANT: You walked in. There was an idol for the religion, candles, and powders,
and just a normal botanica, nothing unusual, nothing that would make you realize
what we were about to see when we went down to the basement. CORNELL WOMACK: Cautiously, Special Agent Dan Garrabrant
and his colleagues descend the narrow staircase into the botanica's dark underground.
The back wall of the basement, from one end to the other, was essentially a shrine of different idols, plates
of food, animal bones, candles burning, just a very mysterious, unique thing that I had never seen before.
CORNELL WOMACK: In the basement, a hallway leads off into the musty darkness. DAN GARRABRANT: These symbols were
painted on the wall in red. And there were different Xs, and arrows, and shapes.
Clearly, it represented something, and it just made it that much more mysterious.
CORNELL WOMACK: At the end of the corridor, he finds a closed door. And no one is prepared for what lies beyond it.
And we knew there was something dead in the room because of the odor that came from the room
when you opened the door. CORNELL WOMACK: Against the far wall, Agent Garrabrant spots another makeshift altar.
This one is topped with a row of iron cauldrons. The cauldrons are black, draped with chains and locks,
and bristling with what looked like freshly cut twigs. As soon as I saw the cauldrons,
I did a double-take, and I had to really move in for a closer examination. And that's when I saw that, clearly, there were chicken
heads and other animal parts. CORNELL WOMACK: But as he peers closer, he sees something even more shocking.
DAN GARRABRANT: But that's when I also saw what appeared to be human skulls in these cauldrons.
CORNELL WOMACK: The discovery of possible human remains raises gruesome implications for investigators.
I knew that this was something very unique and very different. It changes the scope of the whole search.
CORNELL WOMACK: But first, they need to know if these bones are real and how they got here.
To answer these questions, they turned to an expert in bones, forensic anthropologist Gina Hart.
The thing that excites me the most about being a forensic anthropologist is being able to put these pieces
together, being able to see things that other people can't readily see when they look at bones,
just being able to see the stories that they tell. CORNELL WOMACK: Immediately, agents send the cauldrons
to Gina Hart's lab at the Newark Regional Medical Examiner's Office. I certainly was shocked when the cauldrons
were brought to our lab. Thanks, if you could just put them on that table, that would be great.
It's different than most of the cases that I handle. I was a little overwhelmed at first
because it was a big challenge. GINA HART (VOICEOVER): The first thing we needed to do
was determine what was really valuable for our investigation. Do you want to help me get this bag out from under this?
And then we'll take a picture of it before we start. CORNELL WOMACK: Gina Hart's most pressing task
is to sort the grisly contents. GINA HART: It was very messy because we had these animal
heads that were fleshed. We also had fruit and different food items that were very rotten, and ripe, and just fluids
mixing together from that. When the authorities brought the cauldrons to the lab,
the first thing that they needed to know is if there were human remains in them.
CORNELL WOMACK: With one glance, Gina has the answer. These are real human remains.
GINA HART: It was shocking to see the remains in that way. And it was really "go by the moment" situation at first.
CORNELL WOMACK: The discovery of human bones arouses very troubling questions for Gina Hart.
Who could this be? And how did their bones get here? It was a person at one point in time.
It was a person who had a life, who had loved ones. CORNELL WOMACK: And then she discovers something
that ups the stakes even more. I discovered two skull caps. Now we have more than one individual.
CORNELL WOMACK: The discovery of two skulls raises the grim possibility of finding even more victims.
In order to get to the bottom of this mystery, Gina will need to work her way through all
of the remains, sorting animals from human bone. Only then will she be able to determine
the number of individual skeletons rotting inside the cauldrons. So the first step is really laying them out
and do an inventory of which remains that you have. CORNELL WOMACK: While Gina continues separating
and sorting the bones, detectives track down Marcos Quiñones, a leading expert in ritualistic crimes.
Based on crime scene photos and Gina's assertion that the bones in the cauldrons are human, he immediately
determines that they're dealing with a religion called Palo Mayombe. Palo Mayombe initially took root in 18th-century Cuba
when enslaved Africans began to mix their native beliefs with Catholic rituals. Most practitioners worship the spirits of the dead
because they believe the spirits will answer their prayers. But a rare few believe in channeling those spirits
for evil purposes. MARCOS QUINONES: The use of human bones give the religion a very mystical, and powerful,
and dark expression. CORNELL WOMACK: In Palo Mayombe, every symbol and object has a specific meaning.
The cauldrons represent the universe. It also represents where the main god that they worship
lives in. They will also feed it certain foods depending on what god or goddess you worship.
CORNELL WOMACK: Offerings of sacrificial animal heads and blood give the cauldrons power.
But human bones are the most important offering. They'll take the human remains and place them in a cauldron,
and whose ever human remains is in that cauldron is the spirit that they'll be calling down.
CORNELL WOMACK: Human bones are the key, and they are not always easy to come by.
Some practitioners on rare occasion resort to drastic measures including human sacrifice.
One such incident occurred in 1989 when a ring of drug dealers in Matamoros, Mexico,
slaughtered at least five people as human sacrifices and then used their bones to cast spells.
The individual that was doing the human sacrifices worshiped the devil in Palo Mayombe.
So he would promise the devil that he would kill a certain amount of people in order to succeed
in his criminal acts. CORNELL WOMACK: Authorities now wonder if they have stumbled upon another case
of human sacrifice. Coming up, Gina Hart discovers clues that stun a grieving family.
And when she told me what it was, I was in shock. I couldn't sleep over this. I was on the phone every day with anybody I could talk to.
CORNELL WOMACK: When "Skeleton Stories" returns. [SHRIEKING] [CREEPY MUSIC] Authorities are counting on forensic anthropologist Gina
Hart to determine how many skeletons are in the cauldrons found in a Newark botanica and if this
is a case of human sacrifice. MARCOS QUINONES: One of the key questions that they must ask
is, is this a homicide? Are these body parts or a complete body part of a homicide?
CORNELL WOMACK: In order to answer these questions, Gina Hart scours the bones for evidence of foul play.
But after hours of detailed analysis, she comes up empty-handed. I actually don't see any signs of recent trauma
on these bones. CORNELL WOMACK: To Gina, this means that the people were most likely not victims of human sacrifice.
But she still must determine where these bones came from. You can actually go online and buy skeletal remains.
If they were legitimately bought, then there was no crime here. CORNELL WOMACK: But bones purchased from a medical supply
company are usually bleached a pale color white and then shellacked. Most of these bones are not white.
They are brown. In fact, based on the color of the bone, Gina arrives at her next assumption.
Bones sort of absorb all the nutrients around them. The brownish coloration on this skull
really indicates to me that the bones were possibly buried, maybe in a cemetery-type setting.
CORNELL WOMACK: Next, she examines the bones' texture and density. Right away, Gina notices that the bones are brittle,
and this leads her to yet another conclusion. In my estimation, it was several decades that
these remains have been buried. CORNELL WOMACK: Since the bones are decades old and were not purchased legally online,
investigators now wonder if these remains may have been illegally smuggled into the country.
In Cuba, family members are permitted through the government to disinter other family members.
CORNELL WOMACK: There, it is legal for Polo Mayombe practitioners to use their ancestors'
bones for religious rituals. Maybe the remains were brought in from another country
and a perfectly legal source. CORNELL WOMACK: But then investigators recall a spate of seemingly unrelated grave robberies
that took place in and around the Newark area three years earlier. Now they wonder if the bones found in the cauldrons
might be from these graves. In 1999, groundskeepers were stunned to discover that an above-ground mausoleum had been broken into
and the remains stolen. The tomb in question belongs to Leonard Perna, a bar owner,
World War II Navy veteran, and loving father who died in 1989. The cemetery staff immediately notifies his daughter, Rosanne.
This came 14 months after my mother had just passed away. So it was like a double--
double hit. And the first thing I did was I started calling my brothers and my family.
I said, you're not going to believe this. And when she told me what it was, I was in shock, absolutely shock.
They broke in, and they stole my father's body. CORNELL WOMACK: It's a gruesome and perplexing
blow to the Perna family. I couldn't sleep over this. I was on my phone every day with anybody I could talk to.
I did a lot of research. I was on the phone with the prosecutor's office, spoke to the Newark detectives, newspapers.
I did whatever I could. DEAN MAGLIONE: I took personal exception to the grave-robbing crimes.
I had prosecuted a lot of crimes. But when I heard about the grave robbings, it didn't sit very well with me.
ROSANNE PERNA: If it hasn't happened to you, and I wish-- I would never wish this on anybody,
but you just don't understand it because it's like he died again. CORNELL WOMACK: Then over the next three years,
four more graves in the area are robbed. The thefts include the remains of Harold Robinson,
a prominent businessman who ran for mayor of Newark in 1900, Jeremiah Walsh, a Union soldier in the Civil War
who lived well into his 70s, a very old age for his era, and Maxwell and Eleanor Stein, a husband
and wife who died within days of each other and were buried together. At the time, none of the targeted graves
appeared to have a logical connection, nor did authorities grasp the motive of these crimes.
I had thought what many people in law enforcement thought-- it's a bunch of kids goofing around.
It's a prank. You know, we're going to find the remains in the middle of the street or in someone's front yard.
CORNELL WOMACK: But the bodies were never found. And now that FBI agents have discovered human remains
inside cauldrons in a botanica, they need to know if these bones belong to any of the five individuals whose graves were robbed.
But first, authorities need to find out who was involved in the basement rituals.
Their next step is to requestion the informant, Eduardo Gutierrez, who tipped them off to the strange happenings
inside the botanica. After a lengthy interrogation, he reluctantly reveals how he knew about the bones
inside the cauldron. Essentially, what the informant said is that they had been paid money to go to graveyards
and steal human remains when they would wrap the body in a sheet, and then race to their car that was parked nearby,
and throw that body in the car, and then take it to a botanica. And it was really about the money.
It wasn't about the religious part of it at all. CORNELL WOMACK: Under pressure, Eduardo also reveals
who paid them for these bones-- the botanica's owner, a mysterious Cuban woman named Miriam Mirabal.
Miriam Mirabal, who was a Hispanic female that had been practicing Palo Mayombe for many, many years
and was very well known within the community, she was the one you went to if you
wanted black magic or bad spells cast on people. She was reported to be the highest priestess on the East
Coast and was well known throughout the United States, and Puerto Rico, and Cuba as well.
CORNELL WOMACK: And as the high priestess, she demands high prices for her spells and potions,
purported to guarantee love, to cause harm to one's enemies, and even to protect criminals from the law.
This revelation is a horrifying thought to the family. They charge thousands and thousands of dollars
for you to come to get a charm, or to do some kind of a magic spell, or whatever it is,
and they make a lot of money at this. So now you're profiting off of my family's
grief and my father's body. And then I got angry. That's when the anger set in. These people were doing it for profit.
It wasn't done for religion. CORNELL WOMACK: The more investigators learn about Miriam Mirabal, the more convinced
they become that she orchestrated the string of grave robberies. But all detectives have is circumstantial evidence and
a statement from an informant. They need physical proof that connects Miriam Mirabal to the crime, and they're counting on Gina Hart
to find it. We don't know where they're stolen from unless we can connect it to some grave or some individual.
CORNELL WOMACK: Prosecutor Dean Maglione is confident that one positive ID is enough evidence to build
a case against Miriam Mirabal. If I tried to bring this case without specifically
identifying that the human remains which were recovered were stolen, the case would get dismissed
before it even went to trial. CORNELL WOMACK: But for the families, one ID is not enough.
There are families out there who need to know what happened to their loved one. I can imagine it was a real horror for the family, one,
to have their loved ones' graves disturbed and then to find out how these remains were being used.
[CHANTING] CORNELL WOMACK: Coming up, Gina Hart is determined to provide some measure of peace
for the suffering families. I knew that if it was my loved one, I would really want to know what happened to them.
CORNELL WOMACK: When "Skeleton Stories" returns. [SHRIEKING] [SPOOKY MUSIC] Authorities are counting on forensic anthropologist Gina
Hart to prove that the bones found in a botanica basement had been stolen from local graves.
This evidence is what they need to build the case against the alleged ringleader, Miriam Mirabal.
Once you can identify that a set of human remains belong to a specific person, the case is made.
CORNELL WOMACK: And everyone, including Gina Hart, wants to return the dead to their final resting place.
It was important to me to really bring justice to those family members. Because if it was my loved one, I'd really
want them to be back at rest. CORNELL WOMACK: But first, Gina's focus is to figure out exactly how many individuals'
bones were in the cauldrons. To do this, she must sort and separate the remains by their unique characteristics.
GINA HART: It was very overwhelming to think that I had to determine how many people were there.
CORNELL WOMACK: But her challenge is even greater than expected. According to police records and prosecutors,
Miriam Mirabal ground up bones for her potions. DEAN MAGLIONE: The detectives interviewed somebody
who was familiar with this particular botanica and had found out that a woman had gone there and purchased
a powder to drink. The particular woman indicated that she had paid a lot of money for this particular potion
and had gotten quite sick after she drank it. And the powder that she was drinking was human remains.
It even became more particularly disturbing because the families would find out what was
happening to their loved ones. This is a money-making business. And I didn't want anybody profiting from my father.
The possibility that I might not be able to make this match because the bones were
ground up was discouraging. CORNELL WOMACK: Gina must now piece together an unknown number of skeletons that are
missing many of their bones. It is a painstaking process. And I can look at bones and see them in a different way
than an average person can and take everything into consideration-- the color, the shape, the size of the remains.
CORNELL WOMACK: Every human skeleton is unique in color, size, and texture. There are no two skeletons alike.
But detecting these subtle differences requires Gina Hart's specialized expertise.
GINA HART: The color of the remains was a guide because we did have some bones that had
some very different coloration. CORNELL WOMACK: If two skeletons have been lying
in their coffins for decades, they will both appear quite different from each other
depending on their surroundings. GINA HART: The factors include the type of wood
that's used in the coffin, the metal that's used in the coffin, perhaps the clothing
the individual is wearing, jewelry, embalming fluids. There's all sorts of factors that can really influence
the color of the remains after the body has broken down and decomposed. CORNELL WOMACK: But sorting by color is just a first step.
To confirm that a group of bones belongs to one person, Gina must articulate the skeleton.
Articulation is the process of reconstructing the skeleton and making sure that the bones fit together
at all the appropriate points. The articulation points are unique to each person,
to your activities. Your joints could be different if you do something repetitive,
like play tennis. CORNELL WOMACK: But having so few bones makes that process nearly impossible.
It is difficult to put together a skeleton that's not all there because we had maybe a lower leg,
and then we had the thigh bone or the femur that was missing. And I couldn't connect that to a pelvis.
Gina was kind of the puzzle master. And we had this complex case with many different pieces
of the puzzle, with many different puzzles. CORNELL WOMACK: After five days of painstaking work,
Gina Hart can finally conclude how many people are here. All said and done, I had six individuals after I
matched all the bones up. CORNELL WOMACK: There's just one problem. The police are only aware of five stolen bodies.
And that was disturbing to know that there were more graves that were robbed that we didn't even know about.
CORNELL WOMACK: The sixth individual is represented by a single bone, a top half of a skull,
called a skull cap. It's not much to go on, but the sutures in the skull cap provide her with critical information
about this decedent. GINA HART: And I could tell that from the size of the skull cap
and also looking at the sutures in the skull cap, that skull cap that I had was that of a young child.
CORNELL WOMACK: The discovery of a child's skull stuns the entire investigative team.
We did not have any burglaries of any crypts that we knew contained children. Who that skull cap belonged to, and the fact that someone might
have lost a child, and then to have that crypt or grave disturbed again, and to have the bones
used like that was horrific. It was terrifying. CORNELL WOMACK: To know that a child's bones may have
been used for dark purposes is a difficult realization for Gina. GINA HART: Dealing with children is a lot
more difficult in my field. That kind of death is going to be more traumatic for parents.
And so I knew that that would be more painful for the family. CORNELL WOMACK: Investigators scour cold case files, crime
reports, and missing persons databases for leads into the identity of the nameless child.
But their efforts lead to dead ends. The disturbing mystery unleashes a rash of concerns about the extent of these grave robberies.
The thefts might have been occurring outside of Essex County and other counties in the area
also. We knew of certain robberies. But we did not know the extent of this Palo Mayombe cult
here in the city. It's probably bigger than anybody has ever thought. It's probably been going on around here for longer
than anybody has ever considered it. CORNELL WOMACK: Coming up, as Gina zeros in on clues,
she faces an unexpected obstacle. My heart did sink a little bit at the realization
that now it looked like it was less likely that I could make a match. CORNELL WOMACK: When "Skeleton Stories" continues.
[SHRIEKING] [EERIE MUSIC] Investigators are depending on Gina Hart to positively ID at least one of the six skeletons.
They hope this will be the evidence they need to connect the bones in the cauldrons to the bones in the robbed graves
and finally charge Miriam Mirabal with the crime. And the Perna family is also counting on Gina.
We had some ray of hope to look forward to that they had some parts of remains or whatever they took,
and they had things that they could try and match. CORNELL WOMACK: Her first step is
to create a biological profile for each skeleton, which can pinpoint sex, age, ancestry, and stature.
A biological profile is never a positive identification, but it does lead the authorities in the correct direction.
CORNELL WOMACK: Normally, Gina would begin a bio-profile by analyzing specific features
in the bones themselves. However, in this case, many of the bones are missing, and only one set of remains has the bone
that easily indicates sex-- the pelvis. GINA HART: Essentially, the elements in the female's hip bone are different because
of childbirth. They're further apart, not necessarily bigger. From these two bones, I can tell that this
is definitely a female. This indicates that we have at least one female in the remains
that we found in these cauldrons. CORNELL WOMACK: Gina wonders if this could be Eleanor Stein, the only known female
whose remains were stolen. But with only that clue, she can't be sure. Next, she must determine sex for the other four individuals.
Without a pelvic bone, she turns to the skulls for clues. You can tell the difference between men and women
in the skull. Women's skulls tend to be smaller. The muscle attachments on women's skulls
are smaller as well. This is the mastoid process, and it's a muscle attachment which is bigger in men
than it is in women. This muscle attachment is bigger because men have bigger muscles.
CORNELL WOMACK: Based on her measurements, Gina concludes that these four skulls are male.
Next, she determines their ancestry by analyzing the shape of the eye orbits, the width of the nasal openings, and the length of each skull.
We measure from those points and then enter the results into a computer program.
CORNELL WOMACK: In order to approximate age, she examines the sutures of the skull.
In each, the jagged seams appear smooth and less distinct, indicative of someone older than 50.
With this data, she concludes that the four other skulls all belong to older, Caucasian males,
profiles consistent with the identities of the stolen bodies. There is a good possibility that the 55-year-old,
white male could belong to Leonard Perna. CORNELL WOMACK: And this gives the Pernas a reason to hope.
I really hope that it's my father. I want to believe it's him. And I guess I could say, I pray it's him.
CORNELL WOMACK: But a biological profile is not a conclusive ID. For investigators, there is another, more precise option--
a mitochondrial DNA test. To extract mitochondrial DNA, the bone is ground into a fine powder and then liquefied.
Enzymes then separate the DNA from all other bone residue. But there is no guarantee of obtaining a positive result.
There is no definite guarantee that we would even be able to get a good sample out of these bones because
of the condition that they were in. CORNELL WOMACK: Authorities must also face the realities of the state crime lab
where other criminal investigations take precedence. It is very difficult for family members
to be told that their case isn't a priority because it's not a recent homicide. CORNELL WOMACK: Given all the obstacles to performing a DNA
test, investigators are counting on Gina Hart more than ever to prove that these bones were taken
from the plundered graves. Her last option is to try matching any bones that might
remain in their graves to the ones she recovered from the cauldrons. September 2002, Gina Hart and the investigative team
return to the violated graves hoping to find any bones left behind. And we'd open the casket and essentially see nothing inside.
My heart did sink a little bit at the realization that now it looked like it was less
likely that I could make a match with so few bones left over. CORNELL WOMACK: In all, she recovers only two dozen
bones from the five coffins. Despite the odds of finding a match, Gina brings the remains back to her lab
where she will analyze them bone by bone. Only when she has completed this last phase of her work
will police decide if they have enough to prosecute. Coming up, detectives home in on their suspect,
but Miriam Mirabal has a few tricks of her own. She sat still as a rock, didn't move, didn't speak.
It was as if she was in some sort of trance. CORNELL WOMACK: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
[SHRIEKING] [SPOOKY MUSIC] Investigators are counting on forensic anthropologist Gina
Hart to identify at least one of the skeletons found in cauldrons in a Newark botanica.
They need one positive ID to charge Miriam Mirabal with the crime of grave robbery.
Otherwise, the case will go cold. I was aware that the case rested on my shoulders,
and there was a lot of pressure on me. CORNELL WOMACK: The only way to confirm an ID was for Gina Hart
to match any of the remains found in the cauldrons to the bones recovered from the plundered graves.
If we didn't get a match, we would not have a case. Gina Hart had quite a task set forth before her.
CORNELL WOMACK: Back at the lab, she finds that she was able to retrieve a critical bone.
I have a first cervical vertebrae. CORNELL WOMACK: This bone both supports the skull
and connects it to the spinal column. Gina will now try to match it with any of the five skulls.
First, she takes notice of its color. The color's off on this one. And I can tell right away that this isn't a match.
And this one, the color looks a little closer. But it's still-- this is way too small to match up,
and it's definitely not that individual. CORNELL WOMACK: She then tries to establish
if this vertebra articulates with any of these skulls. This is a crucial test because a perfect fit
will provide a sure match. After carefully testing out each of the skulls, her scrutiny finally pays off.
This appears to be a match. This will actually help the investigators continue to process this case.
So this is a huge step for the case. CORNELL WOMACK: This one ID proves that at least some
of the remains found in the cauldrons match bones still in the plundered graves.
And this provides them with the evidence they need to arrest Miriam Mirabal. Flush with success, Gina hopes she
can identify the other remains. But her victory is followed by disappointment. I was only able to match two of those individuals up
to the remains from the cauldrons. CORNELL WOMACK: The two bodies belong to Harold Robinson,
the man who once hoped to be mayor of Newark, and Maxwell Stein, a man so distraught with grief
after the death of his wife that he succumbed only three days later. Now their remains will finally be laid to rest again.
But as for Leonard Perna and the others, including the unknown child, Gina Hart just can't be sure.
I was hoping very much that we would be able to identify him. I think there's a very good possibility
that we do have his skeleton, but I just couldn't match it up. Specifically, I was lacking the vertebra
that would really match the skull up to the rest of the body. So I wasn't able to say that we definitely had his remains.
It is like a roller coaster. It's your emotions go high. Then they go low. And then, all of a sudden, you hit a spot
where you say, oh, my god, it's never going to happen, and this is just the way it's going to be.
We appreciate the job that she's done even though we haven't been able to definitely say,
yes, this was my father's remains. CORNELL WOMACK: For investigators, one positive ID is enough.
But two conformations bolster their case against Miriam Mirabal even further. When Gina Hart, the forensic anthropologist,
was able to positively say some of the remains found in these cauldrons matched the human
remains that we knew to come from the burglary locations-- made the case. CORNELL WOMACK: Investigators now have the critical evidence
they need to charge Miriam Mirabal with theft of human remains. But they have one major problem.
They can't find her. After the raid on her botanica, she disappeared. Police believe that workers at some
of Newark's other botanicas may be trying to protect her. But after nine long months, they finally
uncover a possible lead. On one particular occasion, they were in a botanica, and the store owner denied knowing the suspect.
However, there was a letter that was addressed to the suspect, so we knew we were getting close to her.
CORNELL WOMACK: Detectives follow the address to a house in rural New Jersey, and they
are surprised when Miriam Mirabal answers the door. But when they question her about the grave robberies,
she remains silent. DEAN MAGLIONE: And she portrayed no emotion whatsoever. She sat as still as a rock, didn't move, didn't speak.
It was as if she was in some sort of trance. CORNELL WOMACK: But while Miriam remained stubbornly silent,
the traditions of Palo Mayombe give her away. DEAN MAGLIONE: On her right arm in the bicep area,
she had a very large scar that was Y-shaped. It was about 3 inches. And right underneath where the Y starts,
there was a line across it. One of the things that is a sure sign that an individual is
part of Palo, there is a ritual element that they do, [SPANISH],, where the high priest or priestess
will take a sharp blade or knife and will cut the individual. CORNELL WOMACK: With the scar, the informant's confession,
Miriam Mirabal's connection to the botanica, and, most importantly, Gina Hart's evidence,
investigators need no further confirmation that they have the right suspect. In the spring of 2004, Miriam Mirabal
is charged with burglary, conspiracy, and theft of human remains. The theft is normally graded by the dollar
value of the theft, but human remains has a separate statute. You are presumed to go to state's prison
when you steal human remains. CORNELL WOMACK: Coming up, more challenges lie ahead when
the case finally goes to trial. Fighting physical crime is one thing. But fighting spirits and the like
is a totally different situation. CORNELL WOMACK: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
[SHRIEKING] [EERIE MUSIC] Armed with Gina Hart's positive IDs, authorities have charged Miriam Mirabal with grave robbery
and are now preparing for trial. And again, they turn to Gina Hart, this time to take
the stand as an expert witness. I was a little nervous preparing for it just because it is a huge case.
CORNELL WOMACK: As the date nears, prosecutor Dean Maglione is also anxious about the trial.
And I lived with this case from August 2001 until we went to trial in May 2004. And throughout the course, I learned a lot
about Palo Mayombe. CORNELL WOMACK: But the more he learns, the more concerned he becomes.
I was assured that the practitioners of Palo Mayombe would definitely be casting evil spells on me.
To be on the safe side, I did begin to burn candles myself. You know, I figured it was better
to be safe than to be sorry. And the head of the archdiocese gave me rosary beads, which I kept with me throughout the trial.
CORNELL WOMACK: On April 5, 2004, the trial begins. Dean Maglione starts by emphasizing
the gravity of the crime. The final resting place is a sanctity that shouldn't be disturbed.
CORNELL WOMACK: Next, he calls Gina Hart to the stand. Step by step, she walks the jury through her process
of sorting and matching each bone to the next. I think the visual of the bones really helped the jury understand
everything that was going on and sort of illustrated the story for them. CORNELL WOMACK: And then she offers her final conclusions.
Harold Robinson and Maxwell Stein's earthly remains were unquestionably found in the basement cauldrons.
I wasn't presenting these things as a bias against a religion, but more my scientific viewpoint as to what I found.
You could sense that or you could feel that the jury was not happy. GINA HART: It is a very emotionally charged item.
And all of these people are looking at this as possibly being their loved one. And it does become a graver issue.
CORNELL WOMACK: The trial drags on for nearly a month. But it takes the jury only 90 minutes
to render their verdict-- guilty. Miriam Mirabal is sentenced to 15 years in New Jersey
State Prison for conspiracy, burglary, and theft of human remains. She is appealing her conviction.
In exchange for his testimony against Mirabal, the informant Eduardo Gutierrez was handed a shortened sentence
for the theft of human remains. ROSANNE PERNA: If you do an evil act, then you have to pay the price.
And this is an evil act. CORNELL WOMACK: Detectives are still searching for leads into the identity of the nameless child.
Meanwhile, the unidentified remains sit in a storage box in Gina's laboratory. Without certainty as to who they are, families like the Pernas
are unable to return their loved ones to their graves. A mitochondrial DNA test is the Perna family's last hope.
But a month after the trial, Dean Maglione leaves the prosecutor's office for private practice.
And since then, the DNA test for the unidentified has yet to be performed. This is difficult for families like the Pernas to accept.
Just do the tests. Just let us know. We have everybody who needs to be tested is
ready to be tested for the DNA. We just want to be able to say, this is my father.
And I want him back. MICHAEL PERNA: We need closure. We need to put his body back where it belongs.
And we need to move on with our lives. And not that we could ever forget this happened, but it
would be nice not to have to think about it anymore, to go, OK, everything's back to normal.
CORNELL WOMACK: But the Pernas take some solace in knowing that Gina Hart's forensic analysis has finally
put the person responsible for this gruesome crime behind bars. MICHAEL PERNA: We were always glad Miss
Hart was working on the case as diligently as she was. She put her whole heart into it.
Without Gina Hart, there would not have been convictions. CORNELL WOMACK: The last remains may be shelved,
but they are not forgotten. I still hope to identify the remains and, hopefully, give rest to these family members
and give rest to the remains as well. CORNELL WOMACK: For Gina Hart, providing justice and closure
to the families brings with it a tremendous sense of accomplishment. My philosophy is what I do really
brings justice to those people who are left behind, who have to deal with unfair deaths
or with remains that have been disturbed. I am proud that without my work this case would
have never come to fruition.

A raid on a botanica in New Jersey reveals a basement with an altar of cauldrons filled with blood and human remains, so a forensic anthropologist is consulted.

This true crime series delves into the case files of the country’s top forensic anthropologists and reveals the secrets trapped deep inside the human body.

Brief Summary

FBI agents find human remains in cauldrons, leading to a complex investigation into grave robberies and Palo Mayombe rituals.

Key points

Discovery of Human Remains. FBI agents uncover cauldrons possibly containing human remains in a Newark botanica.
Grave Robberies Linked to Rituals. Investigators suspect a connection between grave robberies and the cauldrons found.
Gina Hart's Forensic Challenge. Forensic anthropologist Gina Hart faces the daunting task of identifying the remains.
Discovery of a Child's Skull. The investigative team is stunned by the discovery of a child's skull cap.
Hope for Identification. The Perna family holds onto hope for identifying their loved one's remains.
Trial and Conviction. Miriam Mirabal is sentenced to 15 years for her role in the grave robbery.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was shocking to see the remains in that way.

Gina Hart describes her reaction to the cauldrons' contents.

6:02WatchSep 30, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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