Lending a Hand, Part Three

Well, Linda Kay, the exotic dancer who kept a severed human hand, affectionately named Freddy, in a jar of formaldehyde on a bedroom dresser, has been arrested. She remains in Jail. Her attorney says she plans to plead not guilty.

Linda Kay was arrested late Friday, two days after authorities said she skipped a court appearance. She was taken to the Middlesex County Jail, where she remained late Saturday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Her attorney, Donald DiGioia, said he looked forward to discussing his client's case with prosecutors.

"She is a good, gentle individual who has a nontraditional job," DiGioia said Saturday night. "She has no criminal record."

Kay, 31, of South Plainfield, was taken into custody with the help of the bail bondsman who initially had posted her bail, authorities said. No new court date has been set.

She was charged last week after police were called to her home on a report that a roommate was suicidal. The roommate was not home, but Kay was. Officers discovered six human skulls and a severed hand in a jar of formaldehyde in her bedroom, according to the police report.

DiGioia declined to discuss his conversation with Kay about the hand. He said he expects the county prosecutor's office to review the matter to determine if a crime has been committed.

"There's been a tremendous amount of media attention for a crime on the lower end of the spectrum," he said. "She's gentle and not a violent person at all. This has been a frightening and terrifying experience for her."

Earlier posts here and here. Actually, the attorney is quite right, there has been an awful lot of focus on this, but that's due to the unusual nature of the charges, I suspect. What does make me wonder about this whole thing is what appears to have been excessively high bail for what is really quite a low level crime.