Infants' bodies go unclaimed at morgue

Associated Press/September 26, 2003

Boston -- The bodies of two infants who died while in the care of a religious sect remain unclaimed in a morgue more than three years after they were exhumed from a makeshift grave.

The remains of Samuel Robidoux and Jeremiah Corneau are at the state medical examiner's office because nobody from either family has tried to claim them, prosecutor Walter Shea said in an interview in Friday's Boston Herald.

The children's parents are part of a small sect called the Body, which rejects modern medicine and government.

Jacques Robidoux, who said he was following instructions from God when he let his 1-year-old son starve, was sentenced to life in prison. His wife, Karen Robidoux, will be tried in January on a charge of second-degree murder.

Jeremiah Corneau was stillborn and his parents, David and Rebecca, were not prosecuted but lost custody of their four other children. After gaining immunity, the father led investigators to the bodies in Baxter State Park in Maine in 2000.

Jacques Robidoux's attorney, Francis O'Boy, said Friday he hadn't spoken to his client recently and didn't know anything about the unclaimed bodies. He added, "The family has always acted in a bizarre fashion."

Karen Robidoux's attorney, Joseph Krowski, did not return calls for comment.

The Corneaus' attorney, J.W. Carney Jr., had no comment.