The man who rented a Keeaumoku-area storage locker where decomposing human remains were found Thursday maintains a website "to provide continuing education for health professionals."
Bryan Avery says on a website that he is president and chief operating officer of the Hawaii Institute of Anatomy. According to the website, Avery "received his Ph.D. training" in anatomy and cell biology from the University of Western Ontario and earned an undergraduate degree in biomedical science from the University of Guelph in Canada, and has taught anatomy since 1987.
Police said Avery rented a storage locker near Keeaumoku Street where decomposing human remains were found Thursday in a freezer.
Police said the renter of the storage locker had defaulted on payment. Workers checked the locker due to a stench.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office took the remains from the building, police said.
No criminal charges have been filed.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser tried unsuccessfully to contact Avery by phone and email Friday.
Last year, Avery also was involved in an incident in which two sets of human remains were found at a Sand Island business property from which he had been evicted. Police said a rental agent who went into the vacated building found the remains in a freezer and reported it.
Avery said then that the institute and the landlord were in a rental dispute.
"This is a very unfortunate situation," said Avery in a statement last year. "We are committed to our mission of assisting the medical and scientific communities. We are also deeply respectful of the wishes of these donors and want to help fulfill their final wish to help others through their very personal gifts."
No charges were filed in that case.
Dr. Scott Lozanoff, chairman of the University of Hawaii medical school’s Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology Department, said he heard of Avery’s organization for the first time due to last year’s Sand Island incident.
Lozanoff added that he especially is concerned with the way Avery handles the cadavers. He said the public should be concerned because of the possible diseases that still may exist even after a person dies.
"I cannot see any legitimate reason for putting a piece of a person in a locker and not pay rent. It’s degrading to that person, to their families and to the public," he said.
According to the state, the Hawaii Institute of Anatomy is licensed by the Department of Health as an embalmer.
