Cooke’s bones reportedly stolen
The bones of the late British broadcaster Alistair Cooke were stolen by a crime ring that snatched body parts to sell for transplant procedures, according to reports in two New York newspapers Thursday.
Citing sources close to an investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, the Daily News said Cooke’s bones were snatched before his cremation and sold for more than $7,000 to two tissue processing companies.
It quoted Cooke’s daughter, Susan, as saying she had learned of the theft last week and was shocked and saddened by it.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office would not comment on the report.
A similar story ran in the New York Post.
Cooke, the longtime host of the U.S. public television show “Masterpiece Theatre,” and known for his Letter from America broadcasts for the BBC, died in New York in March 2004 from lung cancer. He was 95.
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