PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to a man accused of leaving severed body parts in two separate locations outside Prescott.
Walter Mitchell is charged with 29 counts of abandonment of concealment of a dead body. Mitchell owned and operated a business that sold body parts to medical schools and training programs after someone had donated their body to science.
His last business was in the Seattle area and some of the body parts were still wrapped and tagged with the name of that business.
In December 2020 hikers and hunters found the body parts in two separate locations North and West of Prescott.
Investigators tracked Mitchell down through his business records and arrested him in Scottsdale.
More than a year and a half later, Mitchell appeared in a Prescott courtroom with a plea deal on the table.
But while the judge had received a copy of the proposed plea agreement, Mitchell's attorney said he had not discussed it with his client. The prosecution also said she had not presented it to the victims' families for their input.
Instead, the judge told Mitchell if he went to trial, he could go to jail for a maximum of 22 years if convicted.
The change of plea hearing was rescheduled to April 11.
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