PITTSBURGH -- The "Bodies ... The Exhibition" exhibit is currently on display in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Science Center. Even before the show got here, there were questions about the origins of the bodies, but a 20/20 investigation is offering answers Friday night.

The bodies in the exhibit are real, but along with the veins, muscles and organs come controversy.

"They say they come from a medical university in the city of Dalian in China," said Brian Ross of ABC News. "And they're all Chinese and all unclaimed, and they don't know who they are."

That's what the show's medical advisor told WTAE Channel 4 Action News in September, too.

"They were obtained because they died and were unclaimed," said the exhibit's chief medical advisor, Dr. Roy Glover. "That is when a person dies and there is no family member to claim the body. It's normally provided to a medical school and a medical school is then legally able to use it for medical or research purposes."

But Ross wanted answers, so he went to China to investigate. Dalian University told him they have no connection with the exhibit and do not provide any bodies to Premier Exhibitions, which is the company that runs the show in Pittsburgh.

"We found the place they get their bodies from way outside of town, littered with garbage and what we were told was that we found the core of what essentially is a black market in bodies," said Ross.

Additionally, Ross said he found that the cadavers were obtained in violation of Chinese law and that some were executed prisoners.

The supposed partnership with a notable medical university is one of the reasons the Carnegie Science Center agreed to host the show.

Documentation from the Science Center led the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to issue a lengthy statement, saying the exhibit "can provide worthwhile and effective opportunities to promote learning and to explore issues in the natural sciences, morality and spirituality."

"We convened an advisory committee to help guide us and think with us on all the ethical legal and moral issues," Dr. Johanna Haas of the Science Center said in September. "We are confident in our decision."

The show at the Science Center continues through May. Officials there said they want to watch Ross' report before commenting any further.

The president of Premier Exhibitions denies that the bodies of any political prisoners are used in the exhibit.

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