Embalmer in Texas Has Been Charged With Mutilating Corpse of a Sex Offender With Scalpel

A Texas woman has been accused and charged with abusing a corpse. Amber Paige Laudermilk, an embalmer in Houston, is being accused of using a scalpel to castrate the body of a registered sex offender.

According to a report from NBC News, Laudermilk worked as an embalmer at Memorial Mortuary & Crematory in Houston when she to a scalpel to the body of Charles Roy Rodriguez. Rodriguez was a registered sex offender that was charged with sexual assault in 2001.

According to police reports and NBC News, two employees witnessed the alleged crime. Authorities say Laudermilk was seen stabbing Rodriguez twice in the groin in the cremation room "before she cut off his penis and placed it in his mouth". According to the report, Laudermilk told the first witness "You didn't see anything". The witness "perceived to be as threatening".

A second witness arrived afterwards and noticed the body's groin area was "disfigured".

Laudermilk turned herself in on Tuesday and is in custody at the Harris County Jail. According to NBC, she has not posted her $5,000 bond.

Harris County Constable Alan Rosen told NBC News that no matter what one thought of Rodriguez, laws require that his body be treated with dignity.

“This case is about two troubled people: the victim who was a registered sex offender and the defendant, who is accused of viciously attacking his dead body,” Rosen said. “No matter what one thinks of his life, the law requires that he be treated with dignity in death.”

The incident took place last month.