California Man Arrested After Leaving 'Human Skin' Teddy Bear Outside a Convenience Store in Prank Gone Wrong

A California man was arrested after a prank that went very wrong. He claimed to have left a "human skin teddy bear" outside of a convenience store on Sunday, July 13, 2025. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene to investigate the teddy bear.

California man arrested after claiming to leave a human skin teddy bear outside a convenience store

'Human Skin Teddy Bear' was a 'Macabre Prank' Outside Convenience Store

ABC7 News reported that a California man left a "human skin teddy bear" outside of an AMPM convenience store on Bear Valley Road in Victorville on Sunday, July 13, 2025. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene to investigate the strange teddy bear that was left on the ground outside the convenience store.

A zoomed-in image of the bear can be seen below.

Human skin teddy bear outside Victorville convenience store

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department: 'No Human Remains' Found on Teddy Bear

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department determined that there was not actually any "human remains" or "human skin" on the teddy bear. The claim was utterly false, and the police arrested 23-year-old Hector Corona Villanueva, and booked him for a report of an emergency while knowing that it was intentionally false and for planting evidence under the pretense that it was real. 

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department issued a statement about this incident, stating:

"Incidents such as this take up valuable emergency resources and put the public at risk, possibly delaying response time to legitimate calls for service. We would like to thank those that reported information that was helpful during the investigation of this case."

What was the 'Human Skin' Teddy Bear covered with?

The teddy bear was not made out of human skin. It was made out of latex.

ABC7 Eyewitness News spoke to Robert Kelly of Dark Seed Creations, an artist from South Carolina, who said that he made the teddy bear, and it was not made out of human skin, but out of latex. He confirmed that he did ship one of the bears he made out of latex to Victorville. He assumed it was just a routine order; however, he started to receive many calls when fans of his work started calling him on Sunday after recognizing one of his bears.

Kelly said:

"I guess I'd probably be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it a little bit. You know, I'm an independent artist, so you know, I know what starving artist life feels like. So, a little attention is sometimes good regardless of not being able to condone whatever. I mean, I don't know if the guy broke any laws or it was just a prank, but it looks like he definitely got some people riled up." -Robert Kelly, Dark Seed Creations artist

His human skin teddy bear normally retails for $165 on his Etsy website. 

As of the date of publication, the human skin teddy bear was sold out.

Another True Story about a Teddy Bear Containing Ashes

An Alabama woman was driving around and saw a teddy bear on a garbage pile. She stops and grabs it to bring it home to her dog as a chew toy. When she and her daughter get home, they discover the teddy bear has ashes inside of it along with a secret note.

Read the full story here.

Covid-19 Mu Variant Cases Identified in Los Angeles County

Covid-19 Mu variant identified in Los Angeles County

New Covid-19 'Mu variant' Cases Found in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has already identified 167 cases of the Covid-19 'Mu variant' in Los Angeles County, identified between June 19 and August 21. The 'Mu variant' is also known as B.1.621, and has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "variant of interest," but has not been classified as a "variant of concern" - such as the 'Delta variant' that comprises 99% of all cases identified.

The 'Mu variant was first identified in Colombia in January 2021, and has been reported as being identified in 39 different countries. The Washington Post has reported that 2,000 cases of the 'Mu variant' have been identified across the United States. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci said this about the 'Mu variant': "This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggests that it would evade certain antibodies, not only monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine- and convalescent serum-induced antibodies...But there isn't a lot of clinical data to suggest that. It is mostly laboratory in-vitro data."

Source: Deadline

Yahoo! reports that the 'Mu variant' has been found in 49 of the 50 U.S. states. Nebraska is the only state that has not identified this variant. However, health officials are concerned that this variant is more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines than the Covid-19 Delta variant.

Source: Yahoo!

Mu Cases are no Longer Spreading in U.S.

Updated: Sept 29, 2021

According to this AL.com article, there have not been any new mu variant Covid-19 cases among new cases in the U.S.

People are getting tired of Covid-19

Vickie Mays, a psychology professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) says, "People have a lot of frustration. People have been doing thus a long time, and they though by now things would be in a different position.

Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease professor at the University of Michigan, says, "We're likely to see pockets of outbreaks and increased restrictions again with every surge in local cases and hospitalizations....And that's leaving some of us feeling a little anxious, to say the least."

Dr. Tomás J. Aragón on California's Strained Hospitals

In August, the California's Health Officer, Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, issued an order meant to alleviate the burden on Califirnia's strained hospitals with support and flexibility.

He said, "California is currently experiencing the fastest increase in Covid-19 cases during the entire pandemic with 23.8 new cases per 100,000 people per day with case rates increasing eleven-fold within two months...Hospitalizations have increased over 700% in the past two months and are projected to continue to increase."

In mid-August, there were 7,166 Covid-19 hospitalizations in the state of California. At the beginning of Sept. 2021, there are now 8,630 Covid-19 hospitalizations in the state of California.

Source: Deadline 

Los Angeles Unified School District Requires Vaccines

Los Angeles Unified School District officials voted for and decided that all eligible students should be vaccinated.

According to the article, the decision was largely praised by the teachers union and parents.

Source: CNN

Potential Good News from Expert Scientist Regarding Future Mutations

The lead scientist that worked on the Oxford vaccine believes that there "aren't many places for the virus to go" regarding future mutations. She explains that viruses tend to become less virulent over time as they spread through a population that becomes more immune. She believes that Covid-19 will eventually become on par with other seasonal coronaviruses, such as Rhinovirus (the common cold).

Source: Yahoo!