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HANNIBAL, MO. -- Contractors working on a home in Hannibal have made a gruesome discovery.

KTVO’s sister station, KHQA, is reporting that two fetuses in jars have been found in the basement of the home at the intersection of 6th and Church streets.  The home was once used as a chiropractic clinic run by  Dale Neff and was rumored to house an illegal abortion clinic prior to Neff’s purchase of the property.

The jars with the two fetuses were found in a ceramic container covered with a cloth beneath an old medical examining table.

The property's current owner, William C. Neff, said that when he was a child, his parents told him that there were many more similar jars in the basement. He expressed some surprise that some were still there.

Neff’s parents rarely spoke about what they found.

“They didn't want to talk about it too much, but they just found stuff down there that shouldn't be there,” he said.

Neff had recently hired contractors to renovate the building and convert it into rental apartments. The wife of one of the contractors was exploring the basement Wednesday afternoon when she made the discovery.

“The James O'Donnell Funeral Home has donated a casket and a burial plot to give the remains a proper burial,” said Marion County Coroner Darrell McCoy. “The police indicated to me that they wouldn't pursue it any further.”



Click here to see the story from KHQA as well as video taken in the basement of the discovery. Caution: Story contains graphic images and video.