An exotic dancer who decorated her home with skulls and a severed hand was to be arraigned Wednesday for improper disposition of human remains, authorities said.
Police responding to a report Friday of a suicidal person at the home of 31-year-old Linda Kay discovered a large, crudely severed human hand in a mason jar of formaldehyde on the dresser of Kay's basement bedroom, according to the police report.
According to a recently published report, the subject of the initial phone call was not located in the home, but authorities found six skulls in an upstairs room. The Middlesex County medical examiner has determined all are human.
Kay was arrested and charged Friday afternoon in South Plainfield Municipal Court, where she faces arraignment at 9 a.m. Wednesday. As of early Tuesday, no lawyer had filed papers on her behalf, a court administrator said.
Kay could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
While human skulls may be purchased online, the origin of the hand is more troubling. The police report states it was severed roughly, not surgically, with bone fragments in the jar.
Two people who knew Kay, including one who stayed at her house for about two months earlier this year, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that the hand, which Kay nicknamed "Freddy," was a gift from a medical student who frequented the Union strip club where she dances. At the all-nude juice bar called Hott 22, Kay nurtured her Gothic persona, wearing dark costumes, heavy eyeliner, piercings and tattoos.
A South Plainfield Judge released Kay from custody Friday on $100,000 bail.
