What Is The Harvard Morgue Scandal Criminal Minds: Evolution Mentioned In Season 3, Episode 4?

Prentiss, Tyler, and Alvarez in a car on the way to a suspect in Criminal Minds: Evolution, season 3, episode 4

Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 4, splits its time between the case of a killer who they believe is trafficking human organs and agents attempting to help Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) recover his memories. The case-of-the-week is a little more complicated than simply selling organs on the black market, though, as the agents soon discover. The killer is a former emergency room doctor attempting to complete skin grafts for his immune-compromised daughter, who has severe burns over most of her body. Organ harvesting is just something his partner does to make extra money.

That is often the motivation behind the selling of body parts or remains, unlike the usual cases that Criminal Minds covers. Here, however, when the team thinks they might be looking at an organ harvesting ring after multiple victims have specific organs removed, Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) implores the rest of the team not to look into the Harvard Morgue Scandal. Though this episode is not one of the Criminal Minds episodes inspired by a real case, Garcia’s line references a real case involving the selling of human remains.

The Harvard Morgue Case Was A Real Cadaver Trafficking Scandal In 2023

Cedric Lodge And Four Others Were Arrested For Their Involvement

A doctor wearing scrubs in Criminal Minds Evolution season 3 episode 4 — Image via Paramount+

In 2023, the manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School was indicted on charges related to the transport and sale of stolen human remains. Cedric Lodge, with the help of his wife, would steal cadavers that had been donated to the university’s medical program.

Because of the nature of medical and forensic research, people are able to donate their remains to science after their death with the idea that their bodies might be able to further research on different diseases, help improve understanding of how bodies decompose that are disposed of by killers, or even train future medical professionals in surgeries or autopsy procedures. Many universities have vast research programs for this, like Harvard.

Lodge was in charge of managing the cremation of remains after research was complete. He took advantage of the position to take those bodies back to his home and ship body parts to those who purchased them from him and his wife.

According to Lodge’s guilty plea, some of the customers would even visit him at the morgue to pick out body parts there, making the entire thing even more horrific for family members of those who found out about the illegal activity. Though Lodge had been working for Harvard Medical School since 1995, the scheme only began in 2018.

Though Lodge was arrested in 2023, he did not enter a guilty plea until May 2025.

Of course, the difference here compared to the Criminal Minds: Evolution episode is that no one involved in the Harvard Morgue Scandal was seeking out and killing people, but instead, stealing the remains of those who had already died.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 3 Has Had Some Gruesome Cases

The Streaming Series Is Able To Go Darker

Elden Henson as The Zookeeper in Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3, episode 2. — Image via Paramouint+

Compared to the original Criminal Minds series, which aired for 15 seasons on CBS, Criminal Minds: Evolution is able to go much darker. The show’s home on a streaming platform instead of network television means that language can be more adult, but that the episodes can also be even more horrifying than they can on network TV. While Criminal Minds is no stranger to disturbing unsubs, Criminal Minds: Evolution has upped the ante, and season 3’s cases have been particularly gruesome.

This week’s episode pairs up a paramedic and ER doctor who not only grab women from the side of the road who think they’re getting medical attention, but it also sees them brutally and precisely use those women’s body parts for their own gain. The doctor justifies his actions by saying that he has to heal his daughter, but the paramedic is out for pure profit. The worst part of their scheme is that the victims are alive while their skin is used – the organ harvesting only comes after the doctor is done with them.

This comes just after the unsub known as the Zookeeper abducted women, held them in a cage, and taught them to be subservient to him, which would include harming themselves as he saw fit. Once he achieved his goal, he would kill the woman and abduct another so he could “tame” her. That episode, like this week’s, goes into more detail than the show ever did on CBS, making the cases even harder to stomach than they might have been in the original series and reminding the audience how dark the bad guys can really get.

Season 3 Has Done A Great Job Of Balancing Weekly Killers With The Voit Storyline

Criminal Minds: Evolution Marries Serialization With The Procedural Elements

Elias Voit and Dave Rossi in hospital Criminal Minds Evolution season 3

It is able to become much more serialized while still keeping its procedural elements intact.

Though the cases might be so much darker, Criminal Minds: Evolution has another advantage at this point in the series. It is able to become much more serialized while still keeping its procedural elements intact. Last season focused heavily on Gold Star without utilizing the show’s usual case-of-the-week format very well, while the original series was much more naturally a procedural with only a few longer arcs throughout the series. Criminal Minds: Evolution season 3 has found a better balance between the two approaches.

While the overarching narrative of the series is about Voit as Sicarius, the team still has a job to do outside of him. That means taking on new cases every week while leaving some agents on his in season 3. Splitting the team up this way allows for both stories in the episodes to be fully fleshed out, and allows Criminal Minds: Evolution to become even better than the original series.