Wife of ex-Harvard morgue manager pleads guilty to transporting stolen human remains
- Denise Lodge, her husband and 5 others were charged last year in an alleged scheme in which people bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard
- Police said dissected portions of cadavers donated to the university were stolen, including hands, feet, spines, portions of skulls and faces
The wife of a former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has pleaded guilty to a federal charge after investigators said she shipped stolen human body parts - including hands, feet and heads - to buyers.
Denise Lodge, 64, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty on Friday in US District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania to a charge of interstate transport of stolen goods, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors last year announced charges against Lodge, her husband Cedric and five other people in an alleged scheme in which a nationwide network of people bought and sold human remains stolen from Harvard and a mortuary in Arkansas.
Prosecutors allege that Denise Lodge negotiated online sales of a number of items between 2028 and March 2020 including two dozen hands, two feet, nine spines, portions of skulls, five dissected human faces and two dissected heads, PennLive.com reported.
Authorities said dissected portions of cadavers donated to the university were taken between 2018 and early 2023 without the school’s knowledge or permission. A Pennsylvania man, Jeremy Pauley of Thompson, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year to conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen property.