Man allegedly sexually abused corpses after breaking into medical examiner's office — and it was caught on video

Warning: Graphic content

The friend of a man who was allegedly caught on video sexually abusing corpses said he was spiraling after getting addicted to methamphetamine.

Phoenix police said that 31-year-old Fenris Lu broke into the medical examiner's office in Maricopa County at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday and abused nearly a dozen corpses.

'When you are deceased, you are helpless. It's sort of the ultimate control freak type of fun to have.'

Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan said that Lu broke open the body bags of the corpses. Multiple law enforcement sources told KSAZ-TV that the man sexually abused the bodies of four men and it had been recorded on video.

Sheridan added that no medicolegal death investigations were compromised, despite contamination concerns from the alleged abuse. The sheriff said none of the bodies had been a part of any criminal investigation.

Dr. Rebecca Hsu, a forensic pathologist at Hsu Enterprises, told KSAZ that Lu was likely suffering from mental illness.

"With a lot of mental disorders, there may be some sort of control issue," she said. "Because frankly, when you are deceased, you are helpless. It's sort of the ultimate control freak type of fun to have because the people that you are touching have no way to engage you or to fight back."

The man who said he was a longtime friend of Lu told KTVK-TV that Lu was originally from China and had been in a PhD program at the University of Washington and even taught students there.

He said Lu moved to Phoenix to pursue a relationship that had become toxic. He claimed that Lu's mental state began to decline after he got addicted to methamphetamine.

"I feel really sorry for all the families that have their loved ones in that facility and they've been assaulted like this, but it also — this could've been prevented if he had better help for people who struggle with addiction and illness," the man added.

He also refused to believe Lu had sexual motivations for the alleged abuse.

"I don't believe his motives were just to, like, go satisfy himself sexually and get away with it. I strongly believe that he was in some kind of psychosis or mental illness state," the man said.

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The friend had positive recollections about Lu, however.

"His intellect was really beautiful. ... We talked about life and anything and as much of a genius he is, he's also not right in the head for what happened to him. I'm really sorry that this happened to him," he said.

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