The family of a deceased abortion doctor had no idea more than 2,200 medically preserved fetal remains were inside the doctor's rural Will County home, the family's attorney said on Saturday.
Ulrich Klopfer was a doctor at an abortion clinic in South Bend, Ind., until his license was suspended indefinitely in 2016, NBC station WNDU reported. Klopfer died on Sept. 3.
An attorney handling the family's estate called the Will County Coroner's Office on Sept. 12, and informed staff that fetal remains were discovered while going through the doctor's personal property. The attorney and family requested that the remains be removed properly.
Investigators from the Will County sheriff's and coroner's offices discovered 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains at a rural property in the 2900 block of East Pine Court in Crete. The coroner's office has since taken possession of the remains.
"No one has any answers," said Kevin Bolger, a criminal defense attorney representing Klopfer's family. "It is what it is. Like I said, the familly is cooperating 100%. They're working with the coroner and the police, and as far as I'm concerned, it's resolved at this point."
In 2016, Indiana's attorney general alleged Klopfer violated state law nine times by failing to provide qualified personnel to monitor patients undergoing surgical abortion procedures.
Bolger, the family's attorney, said the family is doing the best they can given the circumstances.
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Neighbors told NBC 5 on Saturday that the doctor was nice, but quiet, and added they were disgusted and shocked at the discovery of the remains.
"To hear something like this, I can't take that," a neighbor named Lily said. "It's just a little bit too much for me."
There was no evidence that medical procedures were conducted at the rural Crete property, police said in a news release issued on Friday.
"I've been doing this for over 40 years, and before that, I was a Chicago policeman," Bolger, the family's attorney, said. "I thought I saw it all, and obviously I didn't."
