Mother Sentenced After Plotting to Sell Dead Man’s Toes
A mother of five has been sentenced after attempting to sell the toes of a dead man for $250, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
Forty-eight-year-old Joanna Kathlyn Kinman, of Melbourne, managed to avoid jail time in the grisly case. She pleaded guilty to offensive conduct involving human remains and was sentenced to 18 months of community service.
The bizarre case began in February 2024 while Kinman was working at a local animal shelter. Two dogs were admitted after having been rescued from the home of their elderly owner, who died of natural causes. Unfortunately, the man had been dead “for some time” before the discovery, according to prosecutor Melissa Sambrooks, which left time for the dogs to snack on the corpse. After arriving at the facility, both animals “became ill and vomited up human remains,” including the “clearly identifiable" toes in question.
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Kinman apparently fished the toes out of a trash can and preserved them for future use. "She located two human toes and took them home and placed them in a jar containing formaldehyde," Sambrooks said. Kinman later shared with her daughter a plan to sell the toes online, which she believed would earn her roughly $254 (about $400 in Australian currency). After an unknown tipster informed police of the plan, authorities arrived at Kinman’s home to find the toes in a jar along with her children’s baby teeth, an alligator claw, a bird skull, and a guinea pig trotter.
Further investigation revealed that Kinman was an active contributor to a Facebook group called Bone Buddies Australia and would trade specimens with other interested members. "I know someone who collects weird things,” Kinman told police during an interview. “I thought, ‘Cool, it’s a toe.’” It was later discovered that Kinman had previously sold “wet specimens” of a stillborn cat and dog.
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But despite the outrageous details of the case, Kinman was able to avoid jail time “by the barest of possible margins,” according to Magistrate Andrew Sim.
"By the barest of possible margins you will not be going to jail today,” Sim told Kinman. "You were dealing with body parts of a deceased person. That person would have expected they would have been treated with dignity and respect by any person who came into contact with their remains. You failed to do that."
While the deceased man’s son is aware of Kinman’s attempt to sell his father’s toes, he did not share the appalling fact with the rest of his family out of fear that the information would be too much for them to handle.