17-04-2025
Cedric Lodge, former manager of Harvard's morgue, to plead guilty to stealing human body parts from cadavers
A date for sentencing was not posted in US District Court in Scranton, Penn., where Lodge and several other people - including his wife, Denise - were prosecuted by federal authorities.
Cedric and Denise Lodge lived in Goffstown, N.H., when they were indicted in 2023 for selling body parts across the country for at least five years before they were both arrested, records show.
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In 2023, the Globe reported, the couple had two Subarus with vanity plates. One read 'DKSHDWS,' in homage to the gothic-horror show from the 1960s.
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Also agreeing to plead guilty to selling stolen body parts across state lines is Joshua Taylor, a Pennsylvania man, who made 39 online payments to an account controlled by Denise Lodge. The payments, which totaled $37,000, sometimes had memos like 'head number 7″ and $200 for 'braiiiiiins,' according to court records.
A sentencing has not been set for Taylor, records show.
Katrina Maclean, a Salem woman who used human remains obtained from Lodge in her art works sold at Kat's Creepy Creations in Peabody, is challenging her indictment for interstate transport of stolen property.
On March 3, her attorney argued in court papers the charges should be dismissed because body parts are not legally property.
'Human remains are not, and have never been, deemed to constitute property or 'goods, wares, or merchandise' and therefore, fall outside the purview" of federal law, her attorney, Edward J. Rymsza, wrote.
'Even if human remains could constitute property or chattel, it must be commonly bought and sold to come within the statute. The Government fails to allege that the human remains are ordinarily a subject of commerce,' he wrote.
The motion is pending. records show.
John R. Ellement can be reached at
