Cedric Lodge worked as the morgue manager for Harvard Medical School for nearly three decades. But the school fired him in 2023 after he was indicted for transporting human remains, including heads, brains, skin, and bones to his home in New Hampshire. He and his wife Denise Lodge pleaded guilty to selling the stolen remains to buyers in other states, including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
The scheme, which lasted from 2018 to at least 2020, was a lucrative one. One buyer of the remains sent Lodge’s wife $37,355.16 over three years for various body parts.
Buyers included memos for the remains.
The indictment implicating the couple stated that the payments were sent through PayPal, People reports. The memos for the payments included notes like “head number 7” and “braiiiiiiins.” Lodge also sent a woman in Massachusetts skin she planned to tan. Lodge provided this same woman with two dissected faces.
The Lodges sold dozens of body parts.
Lodge and his wife both pleaded guilty to the online sale of two dozen hands, two feet, nine spines, portions of skulls, five dissected human faces, and two dissected heads, the Associated Press reports. Bodies donated to the medical school are supposed to be used for teaching and research purposes. Afterward, the bodies are usually cremated and returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery. Lodge reportedly intercepted the bodies after they had been used for educational purposes, but before they could be cremated.
One family feels betrayed by the Lodges and the school.
Nick Pichowicz was one of the people whose remains were sold, according to People. His daughter Darlene Lynch called the medical school twice to learn if her father had been one of the victims.
“[We] wanted to make sure it was right. We were hoping it wasn’t,” she said. Nicholas Pichowicz, the deceased man’s son, said his family was shocked, saddened and angered to learn what had happened. “We feel extremely betrayed by these individuals and the school,” he said.
The family is currently in the process of retrieving their mother’s remains, which were also donated to the school. They felt Harvard Medical School could have done a better job communicating. Lynch said she learned of this disturbing news from a local news article.
“When I first heard about it, I wanted to throw up,” she said. “It’s just sickening that people can do this. It’s crazy, messed up, unimaginable.”
Lodge was granted certain protections under his plea deal.
Lodge entered a plea deal with prosecutors in April 2025, The Crimson reports. Under the deal, he is no longer facing conspiracy charges. Prosecutors have recommended that he receives less than the maximum 10-year sentence and a $250,000 fine. Lodge is still under investigation by the United States Probation Office, according to People. Once that investigation is complete, a judge will sentence him.
