The Las Vegas Real Bodies exhibit was meant to be clinical and educational, but for Texas mother Kim Erick, it became something far more disturbing. What others saw as a plastinated anatomical model, she believed was her son—displayed, posed, and stripped of identity. And no amount of official reassurance has shaken that belief.

Kim’s doubts began long before she ever visited the exhibit. Her son, 23-year-old Chris Todd Erick, died in 2012. Police said an undiagnosed heart condition caused two fatal heart attacks. His father and grandmother arranged a quick cremation, leaving Kim with only a necklace said to contain some of his ashes. The speed of it all unsettled her, but grief pushed her to accept the explanation.

Then she saw police photos showing bruises on Chris’s arms—marks she didn’t understand and thought might suggest restraint. A 2014 homicide investigation reaffirmed that no foul play occurred, but for Kim, the doubt lingered, unresolved and heavy.