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Group indicted for allegedly stealing and selling body parts from Harvard morgue
Among the indicted individuals is a Salem woman whose "creepy creations" shop was searched by the FBI in March.
A New Hampshire couple and Salem woman were among a group of people federally indicted for allegedly stealing human remains from the Harvard Medical School morgue — including heads, brains, skin, and bones — and selling them across state lines.
The body parts allegedly came from donated cadavers intended for educational, teaching, or research purposes, according to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Morgue manager Cedric Lodge is accused of stealing the dissected body parts and taking them to his home in New Hampshire. Prosecutors say Lodge and his wife — Denise Lodge, also named in the indictment — then sold the stolen human remains.
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Among the alleged buyers were Pennsylvania resident Joshua Taylor and Salem’s Katrina MacLean, both named in the indictment. According to court documents, MacLean sold stolen human remains to buyers in multiple states, also storing and selling the body parts at her Peabody shop, Kat’s Creepy Creations.
In March, the FBI searched Kat’s Creepy Creations, which specializes in bone art and other oddities.
According to the indictment, the Lodges sometimes shipped the remains through the United States Postal Service to Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
At times, Cedric Lodge allegedly allowed MacLean, Taylor, and others to enter the morgue and choose which remains to purchase. MacLean allegedly agreed to purchase two dissected faces from Cedric Lodge for $600 in October 2020.
Between Sept. 3, 2018, and July 12, 2021, Taylor allegedly made a total of $37,355.56 in PayPal payments to an account controlled by Denise Lodge; some of the memos that accompanied the payments included “head number 7” and “braiiiiiins,” per the indictment.
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The indictment also states that MacLean shipped human skin to Jeremy Pauley, a Pennsylvania man charged separately for allegedly trafficking stolen human remains. MacLean is accused of engaging Pauley’s services to tan the skin to create leather and paying him with more human skin in lieu of money.
Harvard’s response
Harvard Medical School hired Cedric Lodge in 1995 and terminated him on May 6, according to an FAQ posted to the school’s website. He worked in the morgue as part of the Anatomical Gift Program.
The school said it had no prior knowledge of Lodge’s alleged activities until the FBI reached out in March and asked that Harvard keep the investigation confidential pending an indictment and arrests.
Harvard Medical School has taken a number of steps since the indictment was announced, including launching a webpage with resources for donors’ families and setting up a 24/7 toll-free support and information center at 1-888-268-1129. On Wednesday, the school sent letters to the donors’ documented next of kin to inform them of the alleged crime and share available resources.
Harvard has also appointed an external panel of experts to evaluate the Anatomical Gift Program and morgue policies and practices, “with the goal of providing constructive feedback and recommendations to improve security for the program and for the generous whole-body donations it receives,” HMS Dean George Q. Daley and Dean for Medical Education Edward M. Hundert said in a joint message.
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“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the pair wrote. “The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research.”
Looking ahead
Charges listed in Wednesday’s indictment include conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.
The Lodges were scheduled to appear in federal court in New Hampshire Wednesday afternoon. Attorneys for the couple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that the Lodges, MacLean, Taylor, and Pauley were among several people charged with trafficking in stolen human remains. Court documents allege that a nationwide network of people bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and an Arkansas mortuary, the office said in a press release.
“The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human,” U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam said in the release. “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. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling.”
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Karam added: “With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.”
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