braintrio.jpg

(From left) Joshua Long, Robbie Lee Zoller, Angela Sue Micklo (submitted)

When Cumberland County coroner Charley Hall got a call from state police about a brain, he said he initially thought it would turn out to be a Halloween prop.

But the brain found in a Wal-Mart bag under the front porch of a trailer, formerly the residence of a duo accused of a burglary spree, turned out to be human.

"We got it verified it was a real brain," Hall said, and added it is from an adult.

The Dauphin County coroner's office concluded the brain was most likely a teaching specimen that was stolen, said Trooper John Boardman of the Carlisle barracks.

Joshua Lee Long, 26, of Carlisle, is accused of using the brain's formaldehyde to soak marijuana cigarettes - smoking "wet marijuana" - state police say. He was charged Thursday with abuse of a corpse and is in already Cumberland County prison on burglary charges.

He even gave the brain a nickname - "Freddy" - state police say they learned in a recorded prison conversation between Long and woman who found the specimen.

The brain is believed to have been taken from a medical or educational institution, Hall said. "It's in a display container like you see in a medical facility," he said.

The formaldehyde in which the brain is soaking is what the thief was after, Hall said.

"It gives the person an extra high - it's extremely dangerous. It can kill you," Cpl. Bryan Henneman of the Carlisle barracks said.

It's the first case troopers in Carlisle have had of someone using an organ in formaldehyde to smoke drugs, he said.

"We have been hearing about it - this is something that has been going on in other areas. But this is the first time we had someone do this with a brain," Henneman said.

"Every day there's something new and bizarre," he added.

As coroner, Hall said he is the person authorized to dispose of the brain. "We're still looking for the rightful owner," Henneman said.

"Based on the way it was stored, it obviously came from a professional facility - it was either a medical specimen or was in a lab. It's obviously stolen," he said.

During the investigation into recent burglaries, Silver Spring Township police were contacted by Long's aunt, who said she found a brain in a Wal-Mart bag under the porch of a trailer she was cleaning out.

The trailer had been inhabited by her sister, Angela Sue Micklo, and her sister's boyfriend, Robby Lee Zoller, who she said "are on the run" for the past five weeks, court records state. Micklo and Zoller are wanted by police on charges relating to eight recent burglaries.

During a prison phone call conversation the woman who found the brain had with Long, Trooper John Boardman said he acknowledged that this was a real brain that he and Zoller called "Freddy." Long said he and Zoller would spray the embalming fluid on marijuana to get high, court records said.

The National Institutes of Health has reports of patients suffering severe respiratory failure after smoking marijuana cigarettes dipped in or laced with substances such as formaldehyde or embalming fluid.

Buying and selling organs in formaldehyde prompted an article in the Consumerist several years ago, which warned, "Don't Buy Those Brains For Sale On eBay -- They're Probably Stolen."

Anyone with information on Zoller and Micklo is asked to contact Silver Spring Township Detective Andrew Bassler at 717-591-8240 or abassler@sstwp.org.