Scarlett Keeling

Scarlett Keeling's missing vital organs recovered

Could help investigators piece together mysterious circumstances of British teenager's death

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has finally managed to lay its hands on the missing organs of Scarlett Keeling (15), who was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Goa's popular Anjuna beach on February 18, 2008. The organs were recovered from Goa Medical College, which  had carried out autopsies on her body.

The vital organs -- both kidneys, the stomach and uterus -- were found missing when forensics pathologist Dr Gayan Fernando, attached to the Coroner's Court in Devon, UK, cut open Scarlett's body to conduct a third autopsy in the first week of April, 2008.  Experts say the organs would have helped investigators piece together the mysterious circumstances of Scarlett's death.

Forensics experts in Devon had told Scarlett's mother Fiona Mackeown that the lack of kidneys made testing for drugs more difficult. The missing stomach made it difficult to show what level of alcohol she may have ingested on the night she was killed and the lack of a uterus made it difficult for them to prove whether she was sexually assaulted and if so, by whom.

Meanwhile, Vikram Verma, Fiona's lawyer in Goa, said, "We have been informed by the CBI that they have recovered Scarlett's organs from the Goa Medical College. The organs include a piece of the uterus and parts of the spleen and pancreas. However, both her kidneys were used for laboratory examination."

A senior CBI officer supervising the investigation said that the organs would be sent to Fiona shortly and that  a CBI team would be leaving for London to record her statement.

Advocate Verma is confident that the English pathologist can finish off the studies within two weeks of receiving the organs and will release Scarlett's body, which will get a proper send-off more than two years after her demise.