Grim undertaking: Harvard morgue employee charged with trafficking human remains

A former employee of the Harvard Medical School morgue is a member of an alleged human remains trafficking ring the feds have arrested.

“Some crimes defy understanding,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Middle District of Pennsylvania Gerard M. Karam, whose office is handling the case. “The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human.”

On Tuesday, Cedric Lodge, 55, who worked in the school’s morgue as part of the Anatomical Gift Program, his wife, Denise Lodge, 63, both of Goffstown, N.H.; as well as Katrina MacLean, 44, of Salem; Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Penn., and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minn., were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges. This followed charges against Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Bloomsburg, Penn., and Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Ark.

The alleged ring operated from sometime in 2018 and until March 7, 2023, according to the grand jury indictment, would sell human remains stolen from the Harvard Medical School morgue and an Arkansas mortuary. Cedric Lodge worked in the HMS morgue as part of the Anatomical Gift Program until he was terminated on May 6. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Harvard helped in the investigation.

Cedric Lodge is accused of stealing organs and other parts of human bodies — described in the indictment as “dissected portions of donated cadavers, including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains” — that had been donated to the school for medical research and education and were thereafter slated to be cremated in a Roslindale crematorium.

Instead, Cedric Lodge allegedly would take the remains home in Goffstown where he and his wife Denis Lodge would sell the remains to other people.

Those include Katrina MacLean, who owns “Kat’s Creepy Creations,” a Peabody shop that advertises itself on its Instagram page as “Creations that shock the mind & shake the soul. Creepy dolls, Oddities, Bone Art. Curator of @freaksantiquesuniques dark art & oddity market.” The indictment alleges that in October 2020, she agreed to purchase two “dissected faces” for $600.

She then allegedly enlisted the leather tanning services of Pennsylvanian Jeremy Pauley — allegedly shipping human skin to him to be turned into leather. She then allegedly asked Cedric Lodge for more human skin to send to “the dude I sent the chest piece to tan.”

Pauley was indicted on charges of abuse of a corpse, receiving stolen property and other charges last August. Pauley sports extensive body modifications in a photo released along with his charges, which includes half his face tattooed, including his eyeball, large-diameter gauge earrings and what appears to be subdermal metal spike horns through the top of his scalp. His website describes him as ” the lead preservation specialist of retired medical specimens and curator to historic remains and artifacts” for his museum, “Memento Mori,” and his self-named “Pauley Institute of Preservation.”

Harvard spokesman Dennis Nealon said that while the feds have referred to Cedric Lodge as a “manager,” he in fact worked under the morgue’s director and did not manage any other employees.

Harvard deans George Daley, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Edward Hundert, the dean for Medical Education, issued a joint statement calling the act “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 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,” they wrote in the statement.

The deans, who were themselves students at Harvard Medical School in the 80s and 90s, wrote that “an important and meaningful part of how all first-year medical and dental students learn human anatomy is through the dissection and examination of donor cadavers.” The anatomical knowledge gained “transforms students from pre-meds to physician-healers; it is an experience that changes your heart and soul, forever.”

They said they “are so very sorry for the pain this news will cause for our anatomical donors’ families and loved ones, and HMS pledges to engage with them during this deeply distressing time. Harvard counselors are available for those affected 24/7 at the number 1-888-268-1129. The U.S. Attorney’s office maintains a Victim and Witness Unit reachable at the email address [email protected] or by calling 717-614-4249.