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MN man charged in theft and sale of human body parts
Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, is one of five people indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts.
SCRANTON, Pa. — A former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and three other people, including one man from East Bethel, Minnesota, have been indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts, federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced Wednesday.
Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, stole dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023, according to court documents. The body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission, authorities said, adding that the school has cooperated with the investigation.
Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his home where he lived with his wife, Denise, 63, and some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities said. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy.
The indictment charges the Lodges and three others — Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Massachusetts.; Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania.; and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota — with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. It was not known Wednesday if any of the defendants had a lawyer who could comment on their behalf.
Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purposes. Once they are no longer needed, the cadavers are usually cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.
In a message posted on the school’s website entitled “An abhorrent betrayal,” deans George Daley and Edward Hundert called the matter “morally reprehensible.” They said Lodge was fired May 6.
“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the deans wrote. “The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research.”
According to prosecutors, the defendants were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold remains stolen from the school and an Arkansas mortuary. The Lodges allegedly sold remains to Maclean, Taylor, and others in arrangements made through telephone calls and social media websites.
Taylor sometimes transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania, authorities said, while other times the Lodges would mail remains to him and others. Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, authorities said.
Denise and Cedric Lodge both made their initial court appearances Wednesday in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, and were each released on personal recognizance bail. They declined comment as they left the courthouse.
Two other people have been charged in the case.
Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, allegedly bought some remains from Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who allegedly stole them from a mortuary where she worked. Authorities have said Scott stole body parts from cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, noting many of the bodies had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by a medical school in Arkansas.
Pauley allegedly sold many of the stolen remains to other people, including individuals, including Lampi. Pauley and Lampi bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged more than $100,000 in online payments, authorities said.
Scott and Pauley have both pleaded not guilty.
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The Columbia Heights Police Department is asking for the public’s help as they search for a missing man.
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. — Authorities are searching for a man who hasn’t been in contact with his family in six months and is considered endangered.
According to the Columbia Heights Police Department, 62-year-old David Alan Klint, was last known to be staying in a facility in the Twin Cities area.
He isn’t known to have a car or phone, and officials say his family is concerned for his welfare as he has no similar history.
Klint is described as 5’6, 150 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is encouraged to contact police at (763) 427-1212 and reference case number 24236092.
Similar to coal, researchers believe the carbon product holds the key to minimizing human impact on air, soil and water.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota researchers are on the cutting edge of the fight against climate change.
The Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) and the city of Minneapolis are using Biochar to clean up pollution from different angles.
“It’s a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere,” explains NRRI researcher Eric Singsaas.
Singsaas and his research team in Duluth are creating this black carbon product by collecting wood damaged by storms and invasive species like the Emerald Ash Borer. Then, they incinerate it in an oxygen-free environment.
The result: small black bricks that look like charcoal, but prevent a more harmful substance from being released into air.
“If you just take a piece of wood and it falls on the ground, it will naturally decay and turn back into carbon dioxide,” Singsaas said. “If you take a piece of wood and you convert it in this process of pyrolysis, into Biochar, it’s a stable form of carbon.
“It sequesters that carbon away from the atmosphere,” Singsaas said.
Once biochar is made, NRRI researchers are putting it to use against an ever-growing list of threats to the climate.
“Biochar is one potential material that can be useful for filtering contaminants from stormwater,” NRRI researcher Bridget Ulrich said.
Ulrich’s biochar work focuses on filtering E. coli bacteria out of water sources and streams before they reach Minnesota’s lakes and rivers. ”But we’re also interested in organic contaminants like pesticides and PFAS, so biochar can also act as an adsorbent for those contaminants as well,” Ulrich said.
NRRI is also experimenting with mixing biochar and concrete, attempting to make the construction material more environmentally friendly.
“It improves things like the setting time of the concrete,” Singsaas said.
On the Iron Range, Singsaas believes the steel industry could one day swap coal for biochar in carrying out the forging process. “Coal is responsible for a lot of carbon emissions from those industries,” Singsaas shared.
“The Swiss Army knife of climate tools,” said Jim Doten, Carbon Sequestration Program Manager for the city of Minneapolis while explaining the allure of Biochar.
Standing in a green cit plot known as Ventura Village, Doten explained to KARE 11’s Audrey Russo how biochar transformed an eyesore vacant lot into a flourishing community garden.
“We mix it with compost and it makes both of them work better. It’s the synergy,” Doten said. “It really helps hold the water, it helps with the drought resistance.”
Doten is no Johnny Come Lately to the promise of Biochar – He’s studied the science since 2012. With help from a $400,000 federal grant, he’ll take what he’s learned and scale it up near the University of Minnesota campus.
“What we’re doing there is we’re building a facility that will turn woodchips into biochar,” Doten told Russo.
The goal is to complete the facility by the end of the year, with biochar production beginning in early 2025. It’s a timeline that puts Minnesota ahead of the curve. “Right now, no city has this type of operation,” Doten said. “It’s a great place to be a leader and an innovator.”
Once the facility is complete, Doten says the biochar it produces will be used in Minneapolis and across the entire state.
“To help other governments around the area achieve their climate plans, their climate goals,” Doten said. “Restoration is what I see.”
“It’s not the answer, but it’s part of the answer. It’s a tool in a tool belt,“ he concluded.
Court documents detail the charges against 25-year-old Ameer Musa Matariyeh, which include second-degree murder, attempted murder and fleeing police.
WILLMAR, Minn. — A Minneapolis man is charged with second-degree murder and multiple other felonies following a multi-county shooting spree Tuesday that left a New London man dead.
Court documents filed in Kandiyohi County Thursday break down the charges against 25-year-old Ameer Musa Matariyeh, which also include attempted murder, first-degree assault and fleeing police.
Prosecutors say the crime spree began in Minneapolis around 12:30 p.m. that day when Matariyeh fired several rounds from the top floor of an Uptown apartment building at his estranged girlfriend and her new partner. It would continue through several counties as the defendant was pursued west at high speed by Minneapolis police, eventually entering Kandiyohi County.
The criminal complaint filed against Matariyeh says Kandiyohi County law enforcement was informed shortly after 1:50 p.m. that a man was headed their way in a stolen vehicle on Highway 7, being followed by members of a multi-county drug task force.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a 911 call came in from a Kandiyohi County farmstead in Lake Lillian reporting that a man had been shot in the chest. The wife of the victim, 25-year-old Peter Mayerchak, told investigators he was out doing some work in the shed when she heard a pop, then looked out the window and saw her husband and another man yelling at each other. Mayerchak then ran into the house and she saw he had been shot.
Investigators later discovered multiple bullet holes in the home’s windows and walls.
Prosecutors say Matariyeh continued to flee west on Highway 7, and then on a county road at speeds reaching up to 130 mph. Eventually, law enforcement said, the defendant looped back to State Highway 23 and headed towards Willmar. Local law enforcement was informed that a Minneapolis PD crisis negotiator was on the phone with Natariyeh and that he was threatening to commit suicide by cop. Multiple squads, including one driven by Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson, were pursuing the suspect’s vehicle.
At 2:25 p.m., court documents say, law enforcement had OnStar disable the engine of the stolen car Natariyeh was driving, and one officer saw the suspect vehicle rear-end a green pickup near the Highway 7/23 bypass. That same officer said he saw Natariyeh jump out of the stolen Chevy, open the driver’s side door of the green pickup, and then noted that the defendant’s arm pointed and recoiled as if he fired a shot before running into traffic.
The criminal complaint says at that point, Sheriff Tollefson and another officer ran up to the pickup and discovered that the driver, identified as 55-year-old Jerome Skluzacek of New London, had been shot in the head. Responding officers attempted life-saving measures but Skluzacek was declared dead on the scene.
Multiple officers eventually caught up with Natariyeh, who raised his hands above his head and was taken into custody without incident. The firearms he allegedly used in the shootings were recovered near the highway median. While in the back seat of a squad car, Natariyeh reportedly said he wanted to die, and that he threw his life away because his girl had cheated on him.
Additional charges could be filed against Natariyeh in Hennepin County in connection with the shooting incident in Minneapolis.
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