The wife of the former director of the morgue at Harvard University’s medical school has pleaded guilty to selling human remains stolen from the establishment.
Denise Lodge, 64, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of “transporting stolen property” in a Pennsylvania district court, according to court records seen by the “New York Post” on Sunday.
The sixty-year-old, arrested and charged last June with her husband Cedric Lodge and five other people, had negotiated the online sale of human remains between 2018 and 2020, according to the Pennsylvania federal prosecutor’s office.
Among the organs and other parts of corpses sold were two dozen hands, two feet, nine spinal columns, brains, portions of skulls, and five dissected human faces.
Bodies donated to Harvard University’s medical school to be used in research projects before being cremated and returned to their families, but the morgue director saw a good opportunity to trade in corpses.
In this trade, which is disturbing to say the least, a spine can sell for US$1,200, a pair of hands for US$1,000, while a complete body can cost up to US$11,000, according to the New York tabloid. .
