Explained: Harvard University’s macabre morgue scandal

Chilling new details keep emerging about the macabre Harvard University morgue scandal. On Thursday, 19 families impacted by the scandal joined a class action lawsuit against the Ivy League school over the alleged theft of body parts including heads, brains, skin and bones. This comes after prosecutors in Pennsylvania in June indicted a former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and three other people for the theft and sale of human body parts. The families, accusing Harvard of negligence, claimed the school “abandoned the remains in a facility that was a place of freakish desecration”. But what do we know about the scandal? Let’s take a closer look: What happened? Cedric Lodge, 55, the former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School is accused of stealing dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023.

Lodge was fired from his position at Harvard in May, as per USA Today.

Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his home where he lived with his wife, Denise, 63, and some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities said. The indictment charges the Lodges and three others — Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Massachusetts; Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania; and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota — with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy. According to prosecutors, the defendants were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold remains stolen from the school and an Arkansas mortuary. The Lodges allegedly sold remains to Maclean, Taylor, and others in arrangements made through telephone calls and social media websites. Taylor sometimes transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania, authorities said, while other times the Lodges would mail remains to him and others. Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, authorities said. Maclean owns Kat’s Creepy Creations, a store in Peabody, Massachusetts, where authorities say she sold and stored human remains. Its Instagram page notes the store sells “creations that shock the mind & shake the soul,” along with “creepy dolls, oddities and bone Art.” The indictment cites a transaction where Maclean allegedly sold human skin to a Pennsylvania man who tanned it to create leather. After MacLean shipped more human skin to the man, she contacted him to confirm the shipment arrived because she “wanted to make sure it got to you and I don’t expect agents at my door,” court papers said. In another instance, MacLean allegedly agreed to buy “two dissected faces for $600” from Cedric Lodge in October 2020. The indictment also alleged that over a three-year period, Taylor transferred 39 payments for human remains totaling $37,355.56 to a PayPal account operated by Denise Lodge. One payment for $1,000 included the memo “head number 7,” while another for $200 read “braiiiiiins.” Authorities said the body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission and that Harvard has complied with the investigation. [caption id=“attachment_12958752” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Representational image.[/caption] Two other people have been charged in the case. Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, allegedly bought some remains from Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who allegedly stole them from a mortuary where she worked. Authorities have said Scott stole body parts from cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, noting many of the bodies had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by a medical school in Arkansas. Pauley allegedly sold many of the stolen remains to other people, including individuals, including Lampi. Pauley and Lampi bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged more than $100,000 in online payments, authorities said. Scott and Pauley have both pleaded not guilty. What have the families alleged? As per Insider, the lawsuit stated that Harvard described its programme as “an indispensable component of medical and dental education and research." It claimed the gifts would allow let “alleviate human pain and suffering." The lawsuit states donors enrolled in the program “in the hope and expectation that this final act of service and kindness could help train [a] new generation of doctors.” But Harvard “abandoned the remains in a facility that was a place of freakish desecration, where, according to the indictments, criminals were allowed to roam and pick over loved ones’ remains for bits like trinkets at a flea market," the lawsuit claims. As per Insider, a Korean war veteran who passed away of lung cancer – and wished for his body to aid in helping others – was a victim of the scheme,

A diesel mechanic and fisherman and a former English teacher were other victims.

CNN quoted the lawsuit as accusing Harvard and Lodge of negligence and failing “to ensure that the cadavers were properly handled and maintained for their intended purpose of scientific study and not improperly mishandled, dissected, and/or sold to third parties.” “We started hearing from the families of loved ones who selflessly donated their bodies to science before they died,” Jonathan Sweet of the Keches Law Group, was quoted as saying by the outlet. “In doing so, a trust was formed.” “This case is about an alleged breach of that trust, which has come to light in a very unfortunate way,” Sweet said. The lawsuit says the law entitles people to be “treated with decency and dignity after death including by not having their bodies mishandled, viewed, dismembered, and/or sold by those entrusted with them.” This lawsuit comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit in June which alleged that around 400 bodies could have been used in the scheme. According to Boston.com, that lawsuit was filed by a man whose mother’s body may have been among the desecrated.

By 23 June, around 150 people had already joined the lawsuit.

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Paula Peltonovich and her sister, Darlene Lynch, said they were shocked to learn that their father’s remains were among those said to be stolen. They said their parents were both police officers in New Hampshire who wanted to donate their bodies to science. While the woman fear they may never know what happened to their father’s remains, they have asked the school to return the body of their mother, who died in March. Their father died in 2019. “Who could do something like that? What kind of person? No respect at all for the family,” Peltonovich said about the defendants. “They need to pay.” What has Harvard said? Harvard is yet to comment on the latest lawsuit. But in a message earlier posted on the school’s website entitled “An abhorrent betrayal,” deans George Daley and Edward Hundert called the matter “morally reprehensible.” “We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the deans 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.” “We have been working with information supplied by federal authorities and examining our own records, particularly the logs showing when donor remains were sent to be cremated and when Lodge was on campus, to try to determine which anatomical donors may have been impacted,” they added as per USA Today. “Some crimes defy understanding,” Attorney for Pennsylvania Gerard Karam earlier said. “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." With inputs from agencies