SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. – A severed hand was found at the home of an exotic dancer who decorated her home with skulls, and she was charged with improper disposition of human remains, authorities said.

Friends said the hand had been given to the woman by a medical student.

Police responding to a report of a suicidal person at the home of 31-year-old Linda Kay discovered the large, roughly severed hand in a jar of formaldehyde on a bedroom dresser, according to the police report. The subject of the suicidal person report was not located, authorities said.

Six skulls were found in another room and the Middlesex County medical examiner determined that all are human.

Kay was arrested Friday and freed on $100,000 bail pending arraignment Wednesday. No lawyer had filed papers on her behalf Tuesday, a court administrator said.

No telephone number was listed for Kay and there was no immediate comment from her.

Two people who knew Kay told The Star-Ledger of Newark that the hand, which Kay nicknamed “Freddy,” was a gift from a medical student who frequented an all-nude juice bar where she dances.

Kay’s mother, Patricia Ann Kay, told the newspaper that her daughter bought the skulls from a mail order catalog. She said her daughter has always been fascinated with the macabre, and when she was a girl she collected animal skulls and snake skeletons.

“She has a flair for the dramatic,” Patricia Ann Kay said. “I have never tried to stop my children from doing whatever they want. As long as they are happy, aren’t hurting anyone, and it’s keeping them out of the poor house.”