Nothing new.
Mozart had the same fate.
He died too poor for a descent burial.
LOL! Where do they come up with the dopes to write these articles? Mercury comes from silver? Really? Besides, putting these bodies in lye is not going to make the mercury go away (or silver for that matter).
“A rival to burial: Dissolving bodies with lye”
Back in my college days, my prof. in organic/analytical chemistry
said he laughed whenever someone tried to “dispose” of a body in acid.
He said “if you kill/murder someone and you want to cover it us...
through them in a tanning vat. The strong base (lye) environment will
dissolve the body in short order.”