Her husband’s remains may have been stolen from Harvard morgue. She still plans to donate her body for medical research.

“I hope it doesn’t discourage people from donating,” DunKley said in a phone interview, referring to Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program, which accepts human remains willed to the school for training and research purposes.

The morgue’s former manager, Cedric Lodge, and several co-defendants were arrested this week in connection with an alleged scheme to steal remains from the facility and sell them on an illicit market. Lodge was fired May 6.

The letter DunKley received from the medical school said Harvard currently “cannot rule out the potential that Barry DunKley’s remains may have been impacted. Federal authorities continue to investigate and as additional information emerges, we will be in touch with you.”

The letter, signed by Dr. George Q. Daley, HMS dean of the Faculty of Medicine, also denounced the defendants’ alleged conduct.

“These alleged criminal acts are morally reprehensible and inconsistent with the standards that Harvard Medical School, our anatomical donors, and their loved ones expect and deserve,” Daley wrote. “On behalf of the faculty and staff of Harvard Medical School, we are deeply sorry for the pain and uncertainty caused by this troubling news. We pledge to engage with you and support you during this distressing time.”

Daley said the medical school has set up a website for family members as well as a hotline at 1-888-268-1129.

“This line is staffed by specially trained counselors who are currently available 24/7 and will do their best to answer your questions based on the information available at the time,” Daley wrote.

DunKley, meanwhile, said she’s in “limbo” wondering about her husband’s remains.

“I’m sort of left alone with my imagination,” she said. “There are a lot of feelings, a lot of thoughts, a lot of numbness.”

Her husband died in 2018 after a lengthy battle with cancer, DunKley said. He was 67.

Barry DunKley was raised in New York City, campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy in 1968, attended Woodstock the following year, and later enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving “during and just after the Vietnam Era,” according to his obituary posted to the Kane Funeral Home & Cremation Services website.

He retired from the NYPD in 1985 after being injured in the line of duty, according to the obituary.

“He remained a member of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York City,” the obituary said. “He moved to the San Francisco area in 1986 where he was a member of the Theosophical Society. The DunKleys moved to Vermont in 1992 then settled in Easton in 1993 just before the birth of their son,” Sam.

Barry DunKley was active in the community, the obituary said.

“He served as Chairman of the Easton Conservation Commission, member of Easton Historical Commission, a member of the Easton Historical Society, Ames Free Library, the Natural Resource Trust of Easton and as a member and teacher at the Unity Church of North Easton,” the obituary said.

Jennie DunKley said Friday that her husband always wanted to help others.

“It just seemed like the perfect thing to do,” she said of donating his body to the medical school. “Give back.”

DunKley said she takes comfort in knowing that even if her husband’s remains were stolen, they were initially used for intended training purposes.

“Some medical students and God knows how many other people benefited,” DunKley said. “His intentions were carried out.”

Harvard Medical School officials said Friday that letters have been sent to the families of all donors dating back two decades in the interest of transparency and to address relatives’ questions about whether their loved ones may have been affected.

Two sets of letters went out, Harvard officials said: one to those whose loved ones could be affected based on the timeframe of the donations, information from authorities, and the medical school’s own records, and a second to those whose loved ones’ remains were donated outside the specified time period of the alleged scheme.

Harvard does not currently believe that donors in the latter category were affected by the scheme.

Receiving either letter is not confirmation that a loved one’s remains were stolen, school officials said. In light of the pending federal investigation, the medical school said it’s not in a position to confirm whether a donor was a victim. Federal authorities are working to identify individual victims and notify families, Harvard officials said.

Prosecutors allege that Lodge spent years diverting organs and cadaver parts that had been donated for educational and research purposes and were supposed to be cremated. Lodge is also accused of sometimes taking remains to his home in Goffstown, N.H., before selling them to people in other states.

In all, seven people have been charged with trafficking stolen human remains, which included bones, skulls, skin, dissected faces and heads, and internal organs including brains and lungs.

DunKley said she’s confident Harvard will improve its safeguards over the donor program in the aftermath of the scandal.

“Quite frankly, once you’ve been through this, the chances of it happening again without better controls being put in afterwards is kind of unthinkable,” she said.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Shannon Larson can be reached at shannon.larson@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shannonlarson98.