The theft of body parts from the morgue of the Harvard Medical School, and their sale on the black market, has left family members shaken.
Jack Porter literally fell in love with the girl next door.
"It was love at first sight," said Porter, a research associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.
His wife, Raya, was a doctor from Ukraine.
"We were very much in love," he said.
They had six years together before she died from colon cancer in 2017. Raya Porter was 57 years old.
"She decided to donate her body, even though it's sometimes against Jewish tradition," said Porter. "She wanted her body to be used for medical research at Harvard."
In 2019, he received her cremated remains. He said the university covered all related expenses.
"I divided them up to two. One I kept, and one I went all the way to Ukraine to give to her mother and her daughter," he said.
Thursday afternoon, he received a letter from Dr. George Q. Daley, the dean of the faculty of medicine at Harvard Medical School, informing him that the former morgue manager, Cedric Lodge was arrested and indicted for stealing human remains and selling them to people across the country.
"We have been working with information supplied by federal authorities and examining our records, particularly the logs showing when donor remains were sent to be cremated and when Lodge was on campus, to try to determine which donors may have been impacted," read the letter. "At this time we cannot rule out the potential that Raya Porter's remains may have been impacted."
"This especially hurt me, as a Holocaust survivor, that they took the skin and tanned it just like the Nazis did too sometimes," said Porter. "That part really astounded me that people in America would do this and sell these things."
Asked what he would you say to the people allegedly involved in this human remains trafficking conspiracy, he said, "I would say, you guys are sick. You've got to look at yourself and face your family and friends and you are going to be ostracized for the rest of your life. It's so deviant, I just pity the person. I don't have any anger against them. I just pity them for what they did."
Daley apologized in the letter.
"These alleged criminal acts are morally reprehensible and inconsistent with the standards that Harvard Medical School, our anatomical donors, and their loved ones expect and deserve," he wrote. "On behalf of the faculty and staff of Harvard Medical School, we are deeply sorry for the pain and uncertainty caused by this troubling news. We pledge to engage with you and support you during this distressing time."
The letter also notes that Harvard University has appointed an external panel of experts to evaluate the Anatomical Gift Program and morgue policies and practices, with the goal of providing constructive feedback and recommendations to improve security for the program and for the generous whole-body donations it receives.
The school has a list of resources for family members and says a toll-free information and support center that can be reached 24 hours a day at 1-888-268-1129.
