We Continue Lending A Hand

We have been bringing you incredibly detailed information on things you really, really need to know about ever since we opened the Crabitat. And we do try hard to keep everyone updated on developments. So it is that we return to the heartwarming story of Freddy, the severed hand.

Faithful readers may recall (even if they don't really actually want to) that Freddy was kept in a jar of formaldehyde on a dresser in the bedroom of one Linda Kay. Ms. Kay, an exotic dancer, also had a collection of human skulls kicking about the old homestead. Police were not particularly amused and arrested Ms. Kay. The story she told was that the hand (Freddy) was a gift from an admirer at the club she worked at. Said admirer was said to be a medical student.

Well, it seems they managed to get their hands on the guy with the hand.

Ahmed Rashed, a 2005 graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, was charged Monday after voluntarily returning from Los Angeles, where he is in a residency program, said his lawyer, Hassen Abdellah.

Rashed, 26, is free on $1,000 bail.

The dancer, Linda Kay, kept the hand in a jar of formaldehyde in her bedroom. Friends have said she called the hand "Freddy."

Police discovered the hand, along with six human skulls, at Kay's home in July, after being called there on a report that a roommate was suicidal. The roommate was not home, but Kay was.

Kay, 31, has pleaded not guilty to unlawful disposal of human remains. Her mother has said she believed the skulls were bought from a mail order catalog.

The left hand was taken in May or June 2002, according to an investigation by the school and South Plainfield police, said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Judson Hamlin.

Dr. Rashed faces ten years in prison if he is convicted. Doesn't this heartwarming tale play on your heartstrings. Or it might be nausea.