SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA: A former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife, and five other individuals have been indicted for allegedly selling human remains stolen from mortuaries at the Ivy League school and the University of Arkansas. Cedric Lodge, 55, allegedly stole “heads, brains, skin and bones” from cadavers that were donated to the prestigious university under the “Anatomical Gifts Program”, according to a federal indictment filed on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
According to federal prosecutors, Lodge often took the dissected body parts to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his 63-year-old wife Denise sold them to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The indictment also listed several buyers, including Joshua Taylor, 46, Matthew Lampi, 52, and Katrina Maclean, 44, who ran a business called Kat's Creepy Creations in Peabody.
Lodge allegedly engaged in the illegal trafficking of human remains between 2018 and August 16, 2022, when he was working at the mortuary as a part of the university's Anatomical Gift Programme, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Who is Cedric Lodge?
Lodge worked as the morgue manager under the Anatomical Gift Program at Harvard Medical School since 1995 until the medical school terminated his employment on May 6, 2023. In his termination letter, Harvard described his alleged action as “an abhorrent betrayal.” “We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the school’s medical deans said in a statement.
The remains that Lodge stole included the corpses of two stillborn babies that were supposed to be cremated and returned to their families, the charging document said. It is also alleged that Lodge permitted Maclean and Taylor access to the mortuary so they could decide what to take. Additionally, Maclean is accused of reselling the remains to other bidders in other states, including Jeremy Pauley of Enola and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. According to the indictment, Pauley used PayPal to send 25 payments, totaling $40,049.04 to Taylor and $8,800 to MacLean.
'Some crimes defy understanding’
Pauley, 40, was previously arrested and charged with abusing a corpse, receiving stolen goods, and dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity. Pauley is the owner of The Grand Wunderkammer, a store that offers "odd and unusual" things to the general public and for use in museum exhibitions.
The Lodges, MacLean, and Taylor were indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen goods. "Some crimes defy understanding. The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human. It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing," United States Attorney Gerard M Karam said in a statement about the indictments.
