Harvard Morgue Scandal: From Stolen Remains to a $53 Million Settlement

From 2018 through Aug. 16, 2023, morgue manager Cedric Lodge participated in the sale and interstate transfer of cadavers stolen from the Harvard Medical School (HMS). During that period, Lodge removed human remains, including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads, and other body parts, after they had been used for research purposes but before they were cremated according to their donors’ wishes under the anatomical gift donation agreement. HMS provides donors with four different options for how they wish their bodies to be disposed of.

According to court documents, Lodge transported the cadavers to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold the remains to co-conspirators Katrina Maclean, Joshua Taylor, and others. They communicated by cell phone and social media. On other occasions, Taylor and Maclean would use Lodge’s building access to directly enter the morgue to evaluate the body parts prior to transporting them to Pennsylvania.

In October 2020, Maclean agreed to purchase two dissected faces from Lodge for $600, and they coordinated to meet at the morgue around 1 p.m. Maclean allegedly stored and sold some of these remains at her store, Kat’s Creepy Creations, in Salem, Massachusetts. The store’s official Instagram account describes the business as specializing in “creepy dolls, oddities and bone art.”

The Lodges also used the United States Postal Service to sell the cadavers in other parts of the country, occasionally shipping human remains to Taylor and others within their trafficking network out of state for a sizable profit. Over three years, Taylor sent 39 electronic payments to the Lodges totaling nearly $37,500 for stolen body parts. One payment, sent on May 19, 2019, included the memo “head number 7” and another, sent on Nov. 20, 2020, contained the message “braiiiiiins.”

Remains sometimes traveled back and forth between the states to be “modified” for sale. In one such instance, Maclean sent human skin to Jeremy Pauley in Pennsylvania to be tanned into leather. He would then ship the tanned skin back to Maclean to be resold.

The FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the East Pennsboro Township Police Department, and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office investigated the case before filing charges in June 2023 against the Lodges, Maclean, and Taylor. All four defendants were charged with counts of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property exceeding $5,000. Pauley was indicted for his role in the HMS case as well as for a separate case involving the tracking of cadavers in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Following his indictment, the dean of HMS released an official statement condemning Lodge. “We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the letter read. “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.”

Cedric Lodge and his wife, Denise Lodge, pleaded guilty and were sentenced on Dec. 16, 2025, by Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann. Denise was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for her role in the case, while Cedric received eight years.

During the criminal proceedings, donors’ families filed lawsuits against Harvard for negligence and failure to protect human remains. The Massachusetts Superior Court dismissed the claims, finding that Harvard was protected by the “good faith” immunity provision of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.

However, the state’s highest court later overturned that decision on appeal, allowing the case to move forward. The ruling ultimately led the university to agree to a $53 million settlement related to Lodge’s actions. The school will appoint a third-party administrator to distribute funds to the families.

HMS also reiterated its condemnation of Lodge’s actions and provided families with a summary of improvements to their Anatomical Gift Program. The university reaffirmed its commitments under the settlement, creating an annual financial aid scholarship for medical students beginning in the 2027-28 academic year to honor the anatomical donors.

In a formal letter co-signed by deans George Daley and Bernard Chang on Aug. 17, 2026, the University affirmed its plans regarding the settlement. “These events do not reflect the reverence we hold for the altruistic individuals who selflessly donate their bodies to our Anatomical Gift Program (AGP) to provide essential educational opportunities to medical and dental students, practicing surgeons, and allied health professionals,” the statement read. “While we cannot rewrite the past events that brought us here, our students give us profound hope in the future.”

Ella Ricketts ’28 (ericketts@college.harvard.edu) used to think the rumors about Salem were just a myth.