by hmm » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:32 am
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002798052_webskull10.html">seattletimes.nwsource.com...ull10.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Saturday, February 11, 2006 - Page updated at 12:46 AM<br><br>Woman arrested at airport with human skull in her carry-on<br><br>By Brian Haas and Macollvie Jean-Francois<br><br>South Florida Sun-Sentinel<br><br>FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — He was a black man, in his 30s or 40s, buried sometime in the last year.<br><br>His skull still had pieces of dirt on it when it was seized Thursday by federal agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. It was found in a Miramar, Fla., woman's carry-on bag as she went through customs after her return from Haiti.<br><br>Federal officials arrested Myrlene Severe, 30, after she brought the skull from Cap-Haitien in a rice bag on Lynx Airlines.<br>~snip~<br>Severe appeared before federal magistrate Lurana Snow in Fort Lauderdale Friday morning and later posted $100,000 bond. Severe, who is a legal U.S. resident, is accused of smuggling a human head without proper documentation, failing to declare the skull to customs and transporting hazardous materials. She faces up to 15 years in prison.<br><br>Severe could not be reached for comment. Ingrid Llera, a voodoo priestess who saw her at a January gathering of practitioners in Little Haiti in Miami-Dade County, said the Miramar woman is also a priestess. Llera, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., said Severe probably didn't know her actions were illegal.<br>~snip~<br>Perper said he had never seen a case like this in Broward County.<br><br>In Miami-Dade County, however, the medical examiner has the "Bone Room."<br><br>They are "usually skulls brought in for some religious purpose," said Larry Cameron, the office's director of operations. "We may get eight or 10 skulls a year."<br><br>Nearly every case comes from Miami International Airport, he said. Those skulls and bones end up in the "Bone Room," a room for all skeletal remains found in the county. Cameron said the remains are stored there until claimed by relatives.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
