Cops: He Had 'My Dead Friends' as Apartment Decorations

One man tied up in a nationwide network of traffickers in human remains was located Tuesday in a Kentucky apartment decorated with human spinal cords, femur and hip bones, and 40 skulls, one of which was found on the bed where he slept, according to court documents. "The skulls were decorated around the furniture," one with "a head scarf around it," an affidavit reads, per Law & Crime. James Nott, 39, also had a bag from Harvard Medical School, whose former morgue manager Cedric Lodge is accused of stealing and selling human remains, investigators allege, per WBUR. Asked if anyone else was at the home in Mount Washington, Nott allegedly told FBI agents, "Only my dead friends," reports the Louisville Courier Journal.

Nott was identified as part of a network involved in buying and selling human remains by Pennsylvania's Jeremy Pauley, who's agreed to plead guilty to charges of transporting stolen property, WBUR reports. Authorities allegedly found human organs and skin during a search of Pauley's home last year. He was allegedly communicating with an employee of a mortuary in Little Rock, Arkansas, who like Lodge is accused of selling stolen remains, including human hearts, brains, lungs, and fetal specimens. According to court documents, Pauley also communicated with Nott over Facebook, agreeing to pay him for human skulls and spines. The FBI claims Nott "receives things from out of the country and then resells those items within the United States," per Law & Crime.

Though his connection to Harvard is unclear, Nott allegedly posted human remains for sale on Facebook under the pseudonym "William Burke," which is the name of a serial killer who sold his victims' bodies for medical uses in Scotland in the 1820s. Nott is not currently facing charges related to the remains, however. The convicted felon was charged Tuesday with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, per the Courier Journal. Pauley has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transport of stolen property and transportation of stolen property and could face up to 15 years in prison, WBUR reports. Lodge, his wife Denise, and several others have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the trafficking scheme. (More body parts stories.)