Investigators probing a shipment of 18 human heads intercepted at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have determined they came from bodies donated for scientific research and were being transported for disposal, officials said on Tuesday.

U.S. Customs agents discovered the grisly package, which was shipped to Chicago from Italy shortly before Christmas, on Monday.

Because the shipment's paperwork was not in order, agents confiscated the heads and sent them to the Cook County Medical Examiner for safekeeping, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.

 

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