No, human remains were not found in Oprah Winfrey's former home | Fact check

The claim: Police found human remains and evidence of cannibalism in Oprah's former LA home

A July 12 Instagram post ( direct link , archive link ) shows a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter, about media mogul Oprah Winfrey.

“In honor of Oprah Winfrey’s 70 ^th birthday, what’s your favorite moment from the icon?” reads the text in the post, which includes an image of Winfrey.

The featured response states, “That time police found human remains and evidence of cannibalism in her LA home that she sold in 2013.”

The Instagram post was shared more than 4,000 times in a month.

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Our rating: False

There is no evidence any human remains were found in any house connected to Winfrey. Records show she did not sell a Los Angeles home in 2013.

Public records do not show sale of a Los Angeles home

If human remains were discovered at a home once owned by Winfrey, it would have made major headlines. But no credible news reports about such a discovery exist.

Magazines like House Beautiful and Architectural Digest have reported on several homes Winfrey has owned across the country, including in Chicago; Montecito, California; Maui; and Telluride, Colorado. There is no mention of Winfrey ever having a home in Los Angeles. Winfrey has sold properties in Chicago, New York and Franklin, Tennessee, but nothing in Los Angeles in 2013, based on a USA TODAY review of property records retained by Lexis. There is no record of her owning a home there.

The social media user who made the claim in the screenshot later wrote in another X post that it was a joke.

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Winfrey has been the subject of several other debunked conspiracy theories, including that she was involved in child sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein and helped Harvey Weinstein abuse women .

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact also debunked this claim .

Our fact-check sources:

• Lexis, accessed Aug. 9, SmartLinx Person Report
• Home Beautiful, Dec. 26, 2023, A Look Inside Oprah Winfrey's Abundant Real Estate Portfolio
• Architectural Digest, Oct. 1, 2021, Oprah Winfrey’s Homes: A Look Inside Her Extensive Real Estate Portfolio
• @ F41RYTA1L, Feb. 2, X post (archived)

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, human remains were not found in Oprah Winfrey's former home | Fact check