The Ball’s in Your Court

The Ball’s

in Your

Court

Karen M. Bruewer

KMB Forensic Consulting

kmbforensic@yahoo.com

Body Modification

• Anything we do to alter our body physically – adding, enhancing, removing.

• Why modify our bodies?

Health

• Pacemaker

• Cochlear implant

Culture-Religion

• Circumcision

• Tooth filing

Church of Body Modification

• “It is our belief that by practicing body modification and by engaging in rituals of body modification we strengthen the bond between mind, body, and soul and ensure that we live as spiritually complete and healthy individuals.”– www.uscobm.com

Culture-Beauty

• Make-up

• Tanning/waxing

• Color contacts

• Body building

• Piercing

• Hair implants/extensions

• Silicone implants/cosmetic surgery

Culture-Beauty

• Corseting

• Stretching

• Foot binding

• Cranial binding

Self Expression

• Tattoos

• Multiple piercing

• Scarring/Branding

• Eyeball art

Self Expression

• Tongue splitting

• Tooth filing

• Implants

Psychological

• Gender identification disorder– Transgender surgery

• Nullification – Elective amputations

• Fingers, testicles, penis, nipples, labia

Modern Body Modification

• Fakir Musafar (1930 - )– Father of the Modern Primitive Movement– Co-developer of modern body piercing

techniques

History of Castration

• Eunuchs – “bed keepers”– Men castrated to perform a specific

social function• Earliest records from 21st century BC• Domestics, treble singers (castrati),

religious specialists, harem servants, high ranking civil servants, personal assistants to emperors.

Modern Castration Reasons

• Transgender surgery

• Health

• Perceived health

• Control sex drive

• Religion

• Nullification

• S&M

Means of Castration

• Doctor

• “Cutter”

• Self castration

Periodicals

• Ball Club Quarterly (BCQ)– “For men into BALLS! Those who have

them, those that want them, those that vacuum pump them!”

• Personal ads, fiction

• Unique magazine– Both published by Kenneth Schein out of

Pomona, CA– Both currently out of print

Huntington, IN 1999

• Edward Bodkin – 56 year old “American Cutter”

Edward Bodkin

• Grew up on a farm; interested in castration• Advertised in BCQ• Castrated in exchange for videotape and

“trophy” rights• Castrations performed in kitchen• One man sought medical treatment due to

blood loss after one testicle was removed

Edward Bodkin

• Wanted friend to get castrated but friend went to police instead

• Charged with practicing medicine without a license, Class C felony

• Pled guilty to castrating 5 men• Sentenced to 4 years in jail with 2.5

suspended, credit for 69 days served• Moved to Tennessee

Butler County, PA 2001

• Tammy Felbaum – 42 year old transsexual

Tammy Felbaum

• History of performing castrations– Self castration at age 21– First husband in 1983

• Husband # 6 taken to hospital for drug overdose where he later died

• Friend saw husband 2 days prior in bloody bed with stitches in scrotal region; husband claimed he was injured in vehicle accident

Tammy Felbaum

• Autopsy revealed he was castrated; choked to death on vomit

• Claims she stepped in to help him after she found him performing self castration

• Charged with homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of medicine and surgery

Tammy Felbaum

• In 2002, found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; sentenced to 5.5 to 11 years in prison

• In 2007 was charged with assault on officer and making terrorist threats

• Continues to have psychiatric issues

Oak Park, MI 2002

• Shuo-Shan Wang – 29 year old engineering student

Shuo-Shan Wang

• Claims to have performed over 50 castrations

• Castrated 48 year old man on kitchen table

• Shared strawberry pie after surgery

• Victim found with blood stained pants

• Unidentified testicles found in Wang’s refrigerator

Shuo-Shan Wang

• Charged with practicing medicine without a license and dispensing prescription medicine without a license

• Convicted and sentenced up to 4 years in prison

McKeesport, PA 2003

• Douglas Lenhart – 49 year old surgical instrument company manager

Douglas Lenhart

• Experience castrating farm animals

• Met transgendered woman online and agreed to $800 castration

• Procedure performed in her dining room

• Left testicle removed fine, right testicle did not stop bleeding

• Victim in hospital for 1.5 days after

Douglas Lenhart

• Charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and practicing medicine without a license

• Pled guilty to aggravated assault and practicing medicine without a license and received 3 years probation

• Moved back to Kansas

Haywood County, NC 2006

• Michael Mendez – 60 year old casino worker

• Richard Sciara – 61 year old retiree

• Danny Reeves – 49 year old casino worker

“Dungeon” Castrations

• “Dungeon” set up to perform castrations and other body-modification surgery

• Castrations performed on at least 6 men; featured on web site

• Testicles found in freezer

“Dungeon” Castrations

• Charged with felonious castration without malice, felonious conspiracy to commit castration without malice, and misdemeanor performing medical acts without license

• All three pled guilty; Mendez sentenced to 4 months, Reeves sentenced to 8 months, Sciara sentenced to 1 year

St. Paul, MN 2007

• 62 year old man complaining of pain in testicle region – refused surgery by licensed doctor

• Hired “professionals” to castrate him at home

• Was bleeding heavily after he woke up and the professionals were gone

• Found improvised operating room• Man refuses to help police

Bletchley, England 2007

• Howard Shelley – 42 year old builder castrated himself

• Didn’t want to wait for sex change

• Followed step-by-step guide on Internet– testicles removed in 6 minutes, tossed in garbage

• Drove 5 miles to doctor’s office

• Wants to be known as “Holli”

Commonalities in Cases

• Intrigued by castration of farm animals

• Performed on willing men

• Performed in kitchen area

• Videotaped procedures

• Excessive bleeding occurred

• Kept souvenirs (testicles)

• Believed they were performing a necessary service

Relevance to Forensic Science

• Police investigating crime• Forensic nurses in emergency room

– Injury to groin area– Loss of blood– Infection

• Medical examiners at autopsy– Lack of testicles

• Serology/DNA analysts asked to identify testicles

• Other forensic examiners

Websites of Interest• www.bmezine.com

• www.bod-mod.com

• www.bodyplay.com

• www.uscobm.com

Contact Information

• kmbforensic@yahoo.com

• kmbforensic.com