Mummified Body found in upstairs room, family lived downstairs

[kaorder1999]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/10/mummifed.body.ap/index.html

you have got to be freaking kidding me! The lady didn't want to be buried so her "caregiver" left her upstairs in her rocking chair for 2 and a half years after her death!

[kaorder1999]

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- The mummified body of a woman who didn't want to be buried was found in a chair in front of her television set 2 1/2 years after her death, authorities said.

Johannas Pope had told her live-in caregiver that she didn't want to be buried and planned on returning after she died, Hamilton County Coroner O'Dell Owens said Monday.

Pope died in August 2003 at age 61. Her body was found last week in the upstairs of her home on a quiet street. (Watch why the caregiver thought body parts grew back -- 1:37)

Some family members continued to live downstairs, authorities said. No one answered the doorbell at Pope's home Monday afternoon.

It could take weeks to determine Pope's cause of death because little organ tissue was available for testing, Owens said.

An air conditioner had been left running upstairs, and that allowed the body to slowly mummify, he said. The machine apparently stopped working about a month ago, and the body began to smell.

"Standing outside, one could smell death," Owens said.

Police went to the house last Wednesday after receiving a call from a relative who hadn't seen Pope in years. They found a staircase behind a door blocked by a basket and climbed to the second floor, where they found the body.

It was not clear if any crimes were committed, Owens said.

Authorities did not identify the caregiver, a woman in her 40s who apparently lived in the home with Pope, Pope's daughter and her 3-year-old granddaughter.

"The caregiver is not someone you'd think was from another planet or really seems off the wall -- (she's) a pretty normal kind of person," he said. "But I think out of loyalty, friendship and love of her friend, (she) decided to keep the body at home."

[Stretch04]

It takes all kinds but wow. May her soul rest in peace

[STANG RED]

What do you bet that social security checks were still coming to the house and being cashed?
If so, crimes were certainly committed! Every time one of those checks were cashed.

[AP Panther Fan]

This sounds like it could be the basis for a Steven King short story. Just goes to show you, truth IS stranger than fiction at times.:nerd:

Stang Red....unfortunately, you are probably correct.

[piratebg]

Originally posted by AP Panther Fan
This sounds like it could be the basis for a Steven King short story. Just goes to show you, truth IS stranger than fiction at times.:nerd:

Stang Red....unfortunately, you are probably correct.


Kind of reminds me a littlle more of Psycho.

[AP Panther Fan]

Originally posted by piratebg
Kind of reminds me a littlle more of Psycho.

lol....now I have that screeching theme song in my head!:doh:

[44INAROW]

Originally posted by AP Panther Fan
lol....now I have that screeching theme song in my head!:doh:

be careful in the shower tonight :D

[shankbear]

And she didn't even stank!!!!!!!! Stank, Stank, Stank. Stanks for the memories old dead lady.

[olddawggreen]

Thats wild, I can't believe someone could stay in the house after the body started to smell:confused: .

Talk about Stephen King novel, we had a case here in Burnet 10 or 15 years ago where a guy picked up a hitchhiker and brought him back to his duplex. After staying there a short time the hitchhiker killed the guy that brought him home, put his body in the closet and then continued to live in the duplex while he held yard sales to sell off the dead guys belongings. The place was unlivable for quite some time because of the smell. I understand the hitchhiker then drove the victims car to Florida, where he was caught. He was returned to Texas for trial, but a local attorney got him off on a technicality. I dont know where he is now, maybe in your neighborhood.:eek:

[SnyTigBaseB07]

Thats pretty gross, but gosh, i cant really say much about it.

[CHS_CG]

NASTYNESS! THAT IS JUST SICK!

[MHSvarsity2007]

ew. thats quite repulsive. i dont think i could live in a house with a slowly decaying body upstairs. ick.

[Stretch04]

They need to be sure and remove that little girl from those nut cases.

[hata_hurta06]

They must stink pretty bad to be able to live with that smell

[AP Panther Fan]

Originally posted by olddawggreen
Thats wild, I can't believe someone could stay in the house after the body started to smell:confused: .

Talk about Stephen King novel, we had a case here in Burnet 10 or 15 years ago where a guy picked up a hitchhiker and brought him back to his duplex. After staying there a short time the hitchhiker killed the guy that brought him home, put his body in the closet and then continued to live in the duplex while he held yard sales to sell off the dead guys belongings. The place was unlivable for quite some time because of the smell. I understand the hitchhiker then drove the victims car to Florida, where he was caught. He was returned to Texas for trial, but a local attorney got him off on a technicality. I dont know where he is now, maybe in your neighborhood.:eek:

:eek: :eek: There was another case, perhaps this one (I wish I could remember) where the "missing" persons body was found in a trunk in a closet. For some reason, I was thinking it was a female though. But much the same, the perpetrator continued with his/her life as though the body wasn't even there.:doh: