PITTSBURGH - Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick today ordered the Carnegie Science Center to release Jason Baehr, 22, who had been skinned and held captive in a state of suspended animation by a procedure called plastination at the "Bodies" exhibit.
Baehr was captured by mercenaries while traveling in China two years ago and his body was sold to the exhibitors of the controversial "Bodies" show and put on display.
He will undergo skin grafts, and doctors say he should look like his old self in a few months.
Baehr's release was credited to the efforts of his high school girlfriend, Melissa Paige, 22, who got the shock of her life while visiting the "Bodies" exhibit last week. Paige, who recognized the body as Baehr's, noticed movement in his organ of copulation when she touched his hand, and she knew he was alive.
Shortly after the Judge issued his ruling, authorities entered the Science Center accompanied by physicians who injected Baehr's body with adrenaline and other drugs. He slowly emerged from his artificial stupor and uttered his first words in the ambulance on the way to Mercy Hospital, "I'm hungry." Later at the hospital, Baehr personally thanked Paige and the two agreed to start dating again upon his release.
