Authorities said Cedric Lodge was at the center of a ghoulish scheme in which he shipped brains, skin, hands and faces to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere after cadavers donated to Harvard were no longer needed for research.

His wife, Denise Lodge, was sentenced to just over a year in prison for assisting him. They appeared Tuesday in federal court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

In one example, Cedric Lodge provided skin to a buyer so it could be tanned into leather and bound into a book, a “deeply horrifying reality,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan Martin said in a court filing.

“In another, Cedric and Denise Lodge sold a man’s face — perhaps to be kept on a shelf, perhaps to be used for something even more disturbing,” Martin said.

She said Lodge 58, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, treated the parts of “beloved human beings as if they were baubles to be sold for profit” and collected thousands of dollars, from 2018 through March 2020.

After Harvard finishes using a donated body for research or teaching, the body typically is returned to family or cremated. Lodge acknowledged removing body parts before cremation.

Lodge, who was a morgue manager for 28 years, expressed regret in court. Defense attorney Patrick Casey said his acts were “egregious.”

“Mr. Lodge acknowledges the seriousness of his conduct and the harm his actions have inflicted on both the deceased persons whose bodies he callously degraded and their grieving families,” Casey said in a court filing.

Harvard suspended the donation of bodies for five months in 2023 when charges were filed.

Prosecutors said at least six other people, including an employee at an Arkansas crematorium, have pleaded guilty in the investigation of body-parts trafficking.

Officers came across 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while patrolling Huruma, a district east of Nairobi, just before dawn.

Suspecting Wambua was carrying something illegal, they searched his backpack and “to their shock” found the body parts, said a statement from Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

This is far from an isolated case – Kenya has one of the highest rates of femicide, or killings with a gender-related motivation, in Africa.

After police officers interrogated Mr. Wambua, he told them that the body parts belonged to his wife, Joy Fridah Munani, according to the DCI statement.

He appeared “unperturbed” by the officers’ discovery, it said.

After the interrogation, Mr. Wambua led the officers to his home, where they discovered a knife, blood-soaked clothes, and more body parts under a bed.

The DCI described the act as “heinous,” adding that the suspect will be formally charged with murder during an upcoming court hearing.

Between August and October last year, at least 97 women were murdered, Kenya’s National Police Service said.

In December, hundreds of women protesting against a recent wave of femicides took to the streets of the capital, Nairobi. They were reportedly met by police firing teargas.

Kenya has seen several high-profile murders of women. In September 2024, Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei was killed by her former partner.

The 33-year-old died days after being doused in petrol and set alight at her home in western Kenya.

In July, police arrested Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, who they described as a “serial killer,” after the mutilated bodies of nine women were found in a disused quarry.

Mr. Khalusha escaped from custody a month later and appears to still be on the run.

Earlier that year, in a case that sparked widespread outrage, a young woman named Rita Waeni was brutally murdered at a short-term rental apartment. The police said she was dismembered and stuffed into a plastic bag.

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According to reports, police caught two men with a woman’s head and wrists.

Upon investigations, the suspects identified as Wasiu Omonose, 35 and Akanbi Ibrahim, 32 claimed the fetish priest asked them to bring them for sacrifice.

The police then led the suspects to the house of the native doctor only to be informed by his relatives that he had died.

“The herbalist was dead by the time operatives got to his house with the suspects for further investigation” the police said.

According to him, he dismembered and sold their body parts to some customers, adding that, he used the proceeds to enjoy himself.

Monsuru, who was arrested in Iwo on December 8, 2020, in connection with ritual killings in Iwo, made the chilling confession when he was paraded alongside three other suspects at the Osun State Police Headquarters in Osogbo on Tuesday, January 5.

“I killed people and sold their parts to those that needed them. I killed my girlfriend, Mutiat Alani and other people. I strangled people and dismembered their bodies for those who needed them. I used the proceeds to buy beer and hang out with friends,” he told journalists.

Speaking to other journalists, he said:

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“We strangle our victims to death after gaining their trust. Most times, we sleep together at night and later strangle them before daybreak and cut their body into pieces for sale. “After selling their parts to clerics who need them, I use the proceed to enjoy myself and drink beer sometimes. I had killed my girlfriend before and one other young man brought to my place by Akeem. I don’t feel anything while killing them,” he confessed.

Meanwhile, his accomplice, Hamzat Akeem, 25, who confessed to luring his friend, Gafari, to Monsuru’s place, where he was strangled to death, said he was given N5,000 for the role, while Awayewasere Yusuf, 37, claimed he bought a human head for money-making at the rate of N20,000.

Also, Lukman Garuba, 31, said he bought human flesh from Monsuru for money-making ritual at the cost of N2,000. 

Police Commissioner Wale Olokode said: “On November 11 last year, a case of a missing person was reported at two divisions and transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).

“Detectives swung into action immediately. Through intelligence-led investigation, detectives arrested four suspects, who confessed to have kidnapped and killed the victims, Akanbi Adeolu, Alani Mutiyat, Akinloye Ibrahim and many others. One of the suspects, Awayewasere Yusuf, confessed to have bought the human parts and sold to some suspects still at large.”

According to the Ghana Police Service, he was arrested based on a tip-off from the suspect’s father, Amoako Attah that he found some bones suspected to be human parts in his son’s room.

The police immediately jumped on the lead and searched the suspect’s room, only to confirm his father’s suspicion.

According to the the police, decomposed bones suspected to be human skull, jaw and ribs were found and retrieved from his room.

Deputy Eastern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Sargent Francis Gomado, said the suspect, who was beaten up by his father, has sustained some injuries.

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He was sent to the Salvation Army Clinic and was treated and discharged and is currently in custody while the exhibit bones have been deposited at the Peki Government Hospital morgue for preservation.

The thick-skinned suspect has, however, refused to answer any question pertaining to the deceased whose parts he possesses.

It’s, however, important to note that not all cases of dark knuckles, knees and elbows are caused by bleaching (though this happens too when you bleach as a result of the chemicals used), sometimes they are just discolorations needing more attention.

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Discolouration can be embarrassing no doubt but in unserious cases, it’s caused by changes in melanin – the substance that gives the dark skin its colour.

Discolorations are also caused by dryness (never skip moisturizing these areas), handling the area roughly and not exfoliating enough.

One simple way to make sure these areas even out with the rest of the body is to pay great attention to them, hence don’t skip pampering these areas too.

Lemon Juice and sugar is one raved home made recipe for getting rid of dark knuckles, knees and elbows and it works.

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Lemon Juice works as a natural lightening agent because of its bleaching properties while sugar has exfoliating properties that helps get rid of dry and dead skin.

What to do:

• Mix a spoon of lemon juice with sugar
• Clean the areas (knuckles, knees, and elbows), let it air dry and leave slightly damp
• Rub the mix (lemon juice and sugar mix) well into these areas for about 10 minutes at a time
• Do this every night for fast results