The Las Vegas Real Bodies exhibit was meant to be clinical and educational, but for Texas mother Kim Erick, it became something far more disturbing. What others saw as a plastinated anatomical model, she believed was her son—displayed, posed, and stripped of identity. And no amount of official reassurance has shaken that belief.

Kim’s doubts began long before she ever visited the exhibit. Her son, 23-year-old Chris Todd Erick, died in 2012. Police said an undiagnosed heart condition caused two fatal heart attacks. His father and grandmother arranged a quick cremation, leaving Kim with only a necklace said to contain some of his ashes. The speed of it all unsettled her, but grief pushed her to accept the explanation.

Then she saw police photos showing bruises on Chris’s arms—marks she didn’t understand and thought might suggest restraint. A 2014 homicide investigation reaffirmed that no foul play occurred, but for Kim, the doubt lingered, unresolved and heavy.

In 2018, everything changed when she visited the Real Bodies exhibit. A seated, skinless figure called “The Thinker” stopped her in her tracks. She thought the skull fracture matched an injury Chris once had. She recognized the body’s proportions. And on the upper arm—where Chris had a tattoo—she saw what she believed was a patch of skin removed before preservation. It felt impossible to ignore.

She demanded DNA testing, but organizers refused. They produced documentation showing the body had been plastinated in 2004—eight years before Chris died. They insisted the remains were sourced legally from China, with no connection to her son.

Kim couldn’t accept that. Her suspicion deepened when “The Thinker” was quietly removed from the exhibit months later, with no public explanation. The disappearance only fueled her belief that something was being hidden.

Officials stand by the documentation, emphasizing that the timeline makes her theory impossible. But Kim’s conviction isn’t rooted in paperwork—it’s rooted in grief, instinct, and unanswered questions.

And so she keeps searching, refusing to let the story end until she finds the closure she’s been denied.