Who is Barbra Mastromarino and what did she do? Details explored ahead of Knife in the Heart on Investigation Discovery
Barbra Mastromarino was once known as the wife of Michael Mastromarino, a successful oral surgeon whose career and life unraveled in one of the most shocking illegal tissue harvesting cases in the United States. Barbra, who initially believed she was living a dream life with her husband and two sons in Fort Lee, New Jersey, soon faced a grim reality when Michael’s addiction issues and unethical business practices surfaced.
According to The Cinemaholic, on November 4, 2021, Barbra discovered Michael had secretly been running an illegal operation, harvesting body parts from cadavers without the consent of the deceased’s families.
Barbra Mastromarino’s ordeal will be revisited in the upcoming episode of Knife in the Heart on Investigation Discovery, airing March 18, 2025, at 11 pm ET. As per NPR, July 10, 2013, Michael profited from the black-market sale of human tissue through his company Biomedical Tissue Services, leading to his conviction in 2008.
Following his death in prison in 2013, Barbra rebuilt her life, later recounting her experiences in the memoir The Body Snatcher’s Wife. Barbra Mastromarino’s story continues to resonate as a chilling reminder of betrayal and deception.
Barbra Mastromarino now works as a marketing executive in New York, where her sons Michael and Gerald also live
Barbra Mastromarino currently resides in New York, working as a marketing executive, while her sons Michael Jr. and Gerald Mastromarino are also based in New York. Michael Jr. owns a construction company, and Gerald is the CEO of a marketing agency and also pursuing a music career. This information was highlighted by The Cinemaholic on November 4, 2021.
Barbra Mastromarino’s life was once intertwined with one of the most unsettling cases of illegal tissue harvesting in the United States. She married Michael Mastromarino in May 1992. Their marriage appeared idyllic, with a comfortable life in Fort Lee, New Jersey, along with their two sons, Michael Jr. and Gerald. However, the facade of a picture-perfect life started to collapse when Barbra Mastromarino discovered Michael’s drug addiction.
According to Oprah.com, Barbra learned about his addiction when Michael’s office called her to report that he had “passed out on the floor” with “a syringe in his arm.”
Michael’s addiction ultimately led to the loss of his dental license in 2002, which pushed him to start Biomedical Tissue Services (BTS), a tissue recovery business. While legal tissue donation supports medical treatments, Michael’s operation crossed criminal lines. As per NPR, on July 10, 2013, he bypassed consent requirements, forming partnerships with funeral homes and paying up to $1,000 per body to remove tissue without family approval.
According to NBC News, on June 12, 2006, Michael’s company forged documentation, altering records to hide the presence of diseases like cancer or HIV in cadavers. The illegally harvested tissues were then sold to medical facilities for use in transplants, potentially putting patients at risk. The situation became widely publicized when, in 2005, authorities discovered a secret surgical room in a Brooklyn funeral home linked to BTS, described as being equipped like an operating theater.
Michael Mastromarino was eventually charged with enterprise corruption, reckless endangerment, and body stealing. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison in 2008, according to The Cinemaholic, November 4, 2021. He died in 2013 from metastatic liver cancer while incarcerated, as noted by NPR, on July 10, 2013.
Barbra Mastromarino divorced Michael soon after his crimes were exposed and has since worked to rebuild her life. She later co-authored The Body Snatcher’s Wife: My Life With a Monster, detailing her marriage and the fallout from her ex-husband’s actions. In an interview with Fox News on January 14, 2020, she reflected on his passing, saying,
“It was sad that it had come to all of this, but to me, it kept my children and actually the world safer.”
The scandal surrounding Michael Mastromarino has been the subject of several media features, including Love, Honor, Betray: Under Your Skin on Investigation Discovery, and more recently, it will be revisited in the upcoming episode Knife in the Heart, set to air on Investigation Discovery on March 18, 2025, at 11 pm ET.
Stay tuned for more updates.
