Massachusetts Woman, 46, Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Stolen Human Remains Used in Her ‘Creepy Creations’ Shop

A woman from Bradford, Mass., has admitted in federal court that she trafficked stolen human remains across state lines.

On Monday, Dec. 8, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that 46-year-old Katrina Maclean pleaded guilty before Chief United States District Judge Matthew W. Brann to interstate transport of stolen human remains.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, Maclean acknowledged that between 2018 and 2022 she purchased human remains that she knew had been stolen from Harvard Medical School. She then transported those remains from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors said Maclean also resold stolen human remains to others, including Jeremy Pauley, who had previously pleaded guilty to a felony information.

Authorities allege the remains were originally stolen by Cedric Lodge, the Harvard Medical School morgue manager for the Anatomical Gifts Program in Boston, Mass. Investigators said Lodge took organs and other body parts between 2018 and 2022 from cadavers that had been donated for medical research and education before their scheduled cremations.

Officials said Lodge sometimes brought stolen remains from Boston to his home in Goffstown, N.H., where he and his wife, Denise Lodge, sold them to Maclean and others, arranging the transactions through cell phones and social media. On several occasions, Maclean then transported the remains to Pennsylvania.

Other defendants who have previously entered guilty pleas in connection with the scheme include the Lodges, Pauley, Joshua Taylor, Andrew Ensanian, Matthew Lampi and Angelo Pereyra. Lampi was sentenced to 15 months in prison and Pereyra received an 18-month sentence. Cedric and Denise Lodge, Taylor and Ensanian are still awaiting sentencing.

Separately, Candace Chapman-Scott was sentenced to 15 years in prison after stealing human remains from her job at an Arkansas crematorium and selling them to Pauley in Pennsylvania.

The investigation is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the East Pennsboro Township Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan V. Martin is prosecuting the case.

Prosecutors noted that the maximum penalty under federal law for Maclean’s offense is 10 years in prison, a term of supervised release, and a fine. Any sentence will be imposed by the judge after consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

In 2023, Maclean’s business, Kat’s Creepy Creations in Peabody, Mass., was raided by the FBI, and her home in Salem, Mass., was also searched. The shop specialized in eerie dolls and figures, some of which incorporated real human remains. At that time, prosecutors accused Maclean of purchasing two partially dissected human heads for $600 from the former Harvard Medical School morgue manager and charged her with transporting stolen goods.