A Morgue Worker Was Not Arrested for Giving Birth to a Dead Man’s Baby

In October 2020, a purported news article — generally bearing the headline, “Morgue worker arrested after giving birth to a dead man’s baby” — began circulating in Facebook groups and on Twitter:

One such link went to Newsbreak.com (archived) via DesignSalad.com (archived). The latter item, published in early October 2020, began:

Kansas City, MO | A 26-year-old morgue worker was arrested this morning after a DNA test revealed that her newborn child was the result of a necrophiliac intercourse with a man she was supposed to autopsy.

Jennifer Burrows, an assistant pathologist with the Jackson County medical examiner services, is accused of having sex with dozens of corpses over the course of the last two years, a behavior which led the birth of a baby boy on January 7.

According to the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, her baby is the son of a man who died in a car accident in March 2017, and whose body she was supposed to autopsy. They allege that Ms. Burrows sexually abused more than 60 other dead bodies, belonging to males aged from 17 to 71 years of age.

Use of terminology such as “this morning” enabled the text of the article to circulate in perpetuity by making it seem recent. However, the third paragraph mentioned a “man who died in a car accident in March 2017,” making the tale more than three years old as of October 2020.

In January 2016, “satirical” site World News Daily Report published the same content (archived) with the same image:

Kansas City, Missouri| A 26-year old morgue worker was arrested this morning after a DNA test revealed that her newborn child was the result of a necrophiliac intercourse with a man she was supposed to autopsy.

Jennifer Burrows, an assistant pathologist with the Jackson County medical examiner services, is accused of having sex with dozens of corpses over the course of the last two years, a behavior which led the birth of a baby boy on January 7 [2016].

According to the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, her baby is the son of man who died in a car accident in March 2015, and whose body she was supposed to autopsy. They allege that she Ms. Burrows sexually abused more than 60 other dead bodies, belonging to males from 17 to 71 years old.

“We opened an investigation about this case in October after we were informed that the suspect may have been sexually abusing corpses,” Police Chief Forté told reporters. “We accumulated enough evidence over the last few months to obtain a warrant for a paternity test on her newborn son. It confirmed our suspicions, that the father of her child was, indeed, a 57-year old veterinarian from Texas who was driving through the county when he had a fatal car accident. All the evidence that we have gathered suggests that he had never met Ms. Burrows before his demise and that he was already dead when the baby was conceived.”

Readers who scrolled down might have noticed a disclaimer in the page’s footer, which read:

World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.

As it happened, the tale was even older than that. Although World News Daily Report added repurposed mugshots and names, it appeared the site swiped the idea from another satirical news site — Dead Serious News (archived), which in November 2011 wrote:

The Rolling Stones said it best, “You, you make a dead man cum.” A 38 year old female mortuary worker is being held on $250,000 bond after becoming pregnant by one of her clients-a dead man. The alleged crime took place at the Mourning Glory Mortuary just outside of Lexington, Missouri. Police have charged Felicity Marmaduke with desecration of the dead and necrophilia.

According to a statement made to police by Marmaduke, the alleged victim experienced a post mortem erection while being bathed. Being alone, Marmaduke straddled the dead man and proceeded have sex with him. Much to her surprise, the alleged victim came to orgasm after several minutes. A few weeks later, Marmaduke had a positive pregnancy test while receiving a routine medical exam. Upon telling her doctor the circumstances leading to the conception, the police were notified. Marmaduke was arrested without incident at her dilapidated trailer home a few blocks from the mortuary.

In a bizarre twist, Marmaduke plans to sue the dead man’s estate for child support.

An “About” page for Dead Serious News explained:

Dead Serious News is a satirical website that is updated on an irregular basis. With the exception of the names of public figures, all names are fictional.

As is very frequently the case, World News Daily Report’s “Morgue worker arrested after giving birth to a dead man’s baby” was copied and republished by other sites, stripped of any sort of disclaimer or satirical label. The claim circulated in one form or another beginning in November 2011, and October 2020 reposts lacked any satirical labeling. Nevertheless, the story originated on a site trafficking solely in outlandish fabrications.