Goffstown couple charged with trafficking body parts stolen from Harvard med school morgue
A Goffstown couple is under federal indictment in Pennsylvania, accused of selling stolen human body parts obtained from the morgue at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in Boston.
CONCORD, NH – A Goffstown couple is under federal indictment in Pennsylvania, accused of selling stolen human body parts obtained from the morgue at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in Boston.
The couple, Cedric Lodge, 55, and his wife Denise Lodge, 63, of Goffstown, were among six people indicted June 14 . Also indicted were: Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Mass; Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, PA; Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, and Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Bloomsburg, PA, on a misdemeanor charge.
Cedric Lodge was the manager of the medical school’s morgue where he allegedly stole the human body parts that included dissected portions of heads, brains, skin, bones and other human remains. The body parts were from cadavers donated to the medical school for educational use.
When the medical school is finished using the donated cadavers, the donor’s remains are typically cremated at a crematorium in Roslindale, Mass., and are either returned to the donor’s family or laid to rest in a cemetery in Tewksbury, Mass., maintained for that purpose.
Once he allegedly stole the remains, Cedric and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold them to Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Mass., who owns Kat’s Creepy Creations in Peabody, Mass., and Joshua Taylor, of West Lawn, Penn., among others. Taylor and MacLean, in turn, allegedly sold body parts to Jeremy Pauley of Enola and Bloomsburg, Penn.
On June 13, 2023, in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania in Williamsport, the Lodges, Taylor and Pauley were indicted for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the interstate transport of stolen goods.
They dealt in the stolen body parts scheme for about five years, from 2018 until March 7, 2023, according to the indictment.
Cedric Lodge, at times, used his access to HMS’s morgue to allow Maclean, Taylor and others to enter and select what remains they wanted to buy. Maclean and Taylor would take the remains and transport them elsewhere.
Maclean, according to the indictment, sold the stolen human remains to buyers in multiple states. She also stored and sold them at her shop, Kat’s Creepy Creations.
In October 2020, Maclean agreed to buy two dissected faces for $600 from Cedric Lodge. They met on Oct. 28, 2020 at the Harvard Medical School morgue to complete the transaction.
In the summer of 2021, Maclean shipped human skin to Pauley in Pennsylvania and hired him to tan the skin to create leather. On July 31, 2021, Pauley sent a photograph of the leather and Maclean agreed to provide Pauley with human skin in lieu of cash.
Maclean then contacted Cedric Lodge to ask about obtaining human skin to send to “the dude I sent the chest piece to tan,” according to the indictment. Lodge agreed to look for skin at HMS to send to Pauley.
About two weeks later, Pauley shipped the tanned human skin to Maclean who, in turn, shipped him human skin in payment. A few days later, Maclean contacted Pauley to confirm the shipment arrived because she “wanted to make sure it got to you and I don’t expect agents at my door.”
Between Sept. 3, 2018 through July 12, 2021, Taylor sent Denise Lodge a total of $37,3355.56 to her PayPal account in payment for stolen human remains. In one transaction dated May 19, 2019, Taylor sent Denise Lodge $1,000 with a memo that read, “head number 7.” On Nov. 20, 2020, Taylor sent her $200 with a memo that read, “braiiiiiins.”
On Oct. 19, 2021 Pauley sent $8,800 to Maclean’s PayPal account in payment for stolen human remains. He made 25 payments totaling $40,049.04 to Taylor via PayPal.
“Some crimes defy understanding,” said United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam. “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. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.
MacLean subsequently sold stolen remains to buyers in multiple states, the indictment says, including Jeremy Pauley of Enola and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
Examples cited in the indictment include MacLean agreeing to sell two dissected faces for $600 in October 2020 and shipping human skin to Pauley, who was hired in July 2021 to tan the skin to create leather in exchange for more human skin. The skin was subsequently shipped back to MacLean in Massachusetts.
