Year in Review 2019: Fetal remains found at home of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- 2411.
That is the number of total fetal remains found on the property of Doctor Ulrich Klopfer.
Former patient Trenevia Ivory previously said, "A person that keeps human remains inside their home, especially that many as he had? we are all worried."
This grizzly discovery started on September 13th when the Will County Sheriffs office found 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains inside Klopfer’s garage in Illinois.
Klopfer died just 10 days before on September 3rd at 79-years-old, and that is when family made the discovery.
Klopfer was believed to be one of Indiana’s most prolific abortion doctors who worked all over the state in Gary, Fort Wayne, and right here in South Bend at the Women's Pavilion Abortion Clinic.
The discovery of the remains comes following the South Bend Clinic’s license being revoked in 2015– and Klopfer’s license being suspended indefinitely in August of 2016 after the medical licensing board found a number of violations.
State representative Christy Stutzman previously said, "This history has kind of shown us that in this case and not just this case but this other case in South Bend where there is no over sight and accountability it just opens up for all types of possibilities of mishandling of patients of protocol mishandling of the whole entire process."
The discovery prompting former patients and pro-life organizations to speak up.
Ivory also previously said, "One of my biggest fears is that one of those babies is was mine inside that garage.”
And Right to Life member previously said, "Working with the Attorney General and the local prosecutors office as they follow this legal chain to inspect his clinics, to get the remains, be able to bring them to Indiana, and then finally maybe even potentially get them back to mothers and then finally put them to rest."
And asked for an in depth investigation to begin.
The Saint Joseph County prosecutor, Ken Cotter, previously said, "There are 6 members of the attorney general's office here, a couple of deputy attorney generals, and also investigators from their office."
Following local conferences law makers joined in the fight asking for DNA tests on all of the remains found.
Former patient Serena Dyksen previously said, "I’m here so we can move forward and get DNA testing to make sure these babies do get a proper burial.
6 days after the remains were discovered, it was announced all 2,246 of the remains would be brought back to Indiana as part of the on-going investigation.
The Will Count Illinois Sheriff's Department also confirmed there were 70 boxes full of fetal material found in Klopfer's garage from procedures done in Indiana between 2000 and 2002.
Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley previously said, "There were hundreds and hundreds of boxes that we had to go through to make sure there were no more of these remains in that residence. So I can tell you in the 31 years I've been doing this job I've never seen anything like it, ever!
Then investigators looked into the shutdown Women’s Pavilion property to see if there were any remains there.
The Saint Joseph County prosecutor, Ken Cotter, previously said, “at this point I can tell you there are no fetal remains here.”
While no remains were found there or at Klopfer's old South Bend address or Fort Wayne clinic—the community was still not at ease.
US Representative Jackie Walorski previously said, "I think this is the most heinous, disgusting, events I have ever seen."
Indiana Attorney Curtis Hill set up a hotline for women who may have been patients at the pavilion from 2000 to 2002.
Then Pro Choice South Bend released a statement saying, "We at Pro Choice South Bend join the reproductive justice community in feelings of shock and disappointment in the recent events that have been unfolding. PCSB appreciates the highly sensitive nature of this investigation, and trusts that patients’ privacy and dignity will be protected.”
On October 1 Representative Walorski and Jim Banks joined 65 of their house republican colleagues calling to the Department of Justice to see if any federal or state laws were violated by Klopfer.
Then a month after Klopfer’s death, on October 2nd, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill announced all of the fetal remains were brought to the Saint Joseph County coroner’s office.
Attorney General Curtis Hill, previously said, "We brought these back to Indiana because they're Indiana babies that's been aborted and we believe it's appropriate that they return here"
This included the 165 additional fetal remains that were found on October 12th in the trunk of Klopfer’s car in Dolton, Illinois.
Hill previously said, "They did discover in one vehicles trunk, that items contained the remains of aborted fetuses were in that trunk."