By: Catherine Cai

Even the brightest stars still contain a dark side. Fifty-five-year-old Cedric Lodge, a former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, has been indicted on June 14, 2023, for the sale and theft of body parts. Lodge and his sixty-three-year-old wife, Denise, were found culpable of stealing “dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023.” According to authorities, “the body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission” (Los Angeles Times). Additional accomplices include forty-four-year-old, Katrina Maclean, forty-six-year-old Joshua Taylor, and fifty-two-year-old Mathew Lampi.

Lodge’s wares “included heads, brains, skin, and bones” (Los Angeles Times). He would also allow “buyers to come to the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy” (Los Angeles Times). Denise would assist with the delivery of the body parts. Sometimes Taylor would receive body parts to drive interstate to other customers, while Maclean would resell them for profit.

Harvard has since slammed Lodge and his accomplices in a scathing public statement. They were appalled to know that “something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others” (Harvard Medical School). They have been working with the federal government to match the stolen body parts to their families.

They do it in part to comply with the authorities, but more so that the “enormous respect and gratitude we felt toward the donors and the deep reverence we held for the process of dissection remain present with us today” (Harvard Medical School). The deans of Harvard Medical School consistently stressed the respect that they have for such donors, who decide to pledge their bodies for the advancement of medical research.

Even though the Harvard Medical School remains a place where the brightest of minds go, not even the sun can go without casting a few shadows.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Harvard Medical School.