'Very, very unnatural': Expert reacts to Phoenix morgue break-in

PHOENIX - It is an act many are still wrapping their heads around.

"It tends to throw people quite a bit because it just seems so very, very unnatural," said Dr. Rebecca Hsu, a forensic pathologist at Hsu Enterprises.

Thirty-one-year-old Fenris Lu is accused of breaking into the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20, and sexually assaulting multiple bodies inside.

What they're saying:

"It was approximately 11 bodies … the bags that they were kept in … they were broken open," said Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan.

Multiple law enforcement sources say the bodies of four men were touched sexually, and the whole thing was caught on camera.

Concerns have been voiced about how this could affect operations inside the medical examiner’s office, including everything from investigations to organ donation. Hsu says contamination would be the primary concern in any autopsy or investigation.

"Remember, body bags are sealed, things are contained so that you know that things have been handled in a clean fashion, in a sterile fashion," Hsu explained. "If someone has broken that seal prematurely and now has touched or manipulated the bodies ... in some way that in theory could interfere with investigation and confound some of the findings."

Sheridan says the bodies were not related to a criminal investigation.

"They weren’t victims of a crime," Sheridan said.

A spokesperson for Maricopa County told FOX 10 in a statement, "The recent break-in did not compromise any medicolegal death investigations. Forensic pathologists with the Office of the Medical Examiner resumed examinations today."

‘You are helpless’

The biggest question—why someone would do this—has yet to be answered. But experts say most signs point to mental illness.

"With a lot of mental disorders, especially when there may be some sort of control issue," Hsu 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."