Left: The Wicked Wonderland shop in Orange City, Fla. (Facebook). Right: Kymberlee Schopper (Volusia County Jail).
A Florida woman who runs a curio shop was allegedly selling something a little too authentic for law enforcement — real human remains.
Kymberlee Schopper, aged 52, is one of the proprietors of Wicked Wonderland located in Orange City, Florida. The store takes pride in its diverse selection of products that are characterized as both unique and slightly eerie. However, authorities have leveled allegations against Schopper, asserting that she has engaged in the sale of “authentic human remains,” an activity that is deemed unlawful.
Based on an arrest warrant disclosed by WOFL, a Fox affiliate in the area, law enforcement mentioned that Schopper’s business associate has verified that the store indeed possessed numerous human bone fragments, all acquired from individual sellers in private transactions.
According to police, Schopper allegedly claimed the bone fragments were parts of “educational models,” for which she had documentation.
Initial reports on the matter surfaced in December 2023, as per the Daytona Beach News-Journal, following a tip-off from a local woman to the police regarding Wicked Wonderland’s advertisement of actual bone fragments on its Facebook Marketplace profile. The arrest warrant states that the authorities came across various items listed for sale on the page, which were explicitly labeled as “human” bone fragments.
The warrant included the items and prices of several different kinds of bone fragments: Two human skull fragments, $90; human clavicle and scapula, $90; human rib, $35; human vertebrae, $35; and a partial human skull, $600.
When questioned by police after the report was filed, Schopper’s business partner Ashley Lelesi reportedly told officers that the shop had been knowingly selling human bones for several years. According to the warrant, Lelesi “confirmed that the store had multiple human bone fragments, all purchased from private sellers, and mentioned she has documentation for these transactions but could not provide it at that moment. She described the bones as genuine human remains and delicate in nature.”
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that Lelesi was “nervous” during the police’s visit, and that she did not know that selling human remains was against the law.
When authorities questioned Schopper, she reportedly told them that the remains were “educational models,” which were legal to sell under Florida law. But Orange City Police Captain Sherif El-Shami told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that no matter where the remains were purchased, it was still illegal to sell them in Florida.
The paper reported that Lelesi will also face charges but has not been arrested yet.
The bones, per the arrest affidavit, were confiscated by police and brought to the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office where they were examined and analyzed. WOFL reported that the skull fragment and partial skull were likely archaeological finds. Other bone fragments were estimated to be 100 and 500 years old.
The investigators concluded their report by determining that “Schopper knowingly purchased and listed human bones for sale through Facebook Marketplace and their business website.”
After a 15-month long investigation into Wicked Wonderland’s “oddities,” Schopper was charged with the purchase or sale of human tissue, a felony. She was booked into the Volusia County Jail on April 10 and posted $7,500 bond. Schopper is scheduled to be arraigned on May 1.
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