A Florida woman has been accused of hiding her dead mother’s body in a freezer so that she could keep claiming her disability checks.
Michele Hoskins, 64, was arrested on Thursday and charged with failing to report the death of her mother and tampering with evidence – around six weeks after police made the grim discovery in a residence in Sebastian.
Officers were first called to the home of Ms Hoskins and her 93-year-old mother Marie Hoskins back on 28 April when neighbours grew concerned that they hadn’t seen the elderly woman for some time.
When officers tried to perform a welfare check, no one answered the door and they briefly left.
After accessing a key with the help of another relative, police said officers returned and entered the property to find Ms Hoskins waiting for them inside.
At first, the 64-year-old allegedly told the officers that she hadn’t seen her mother in a while.
Police searched the home and soon discovered the 93-year-old’s body stuffed inside a deep chest freezer.
Sebastian Police said that Ms Hoskins confessed to investigators that she had placed her mother inside the freezer so she could keep receiving her disability benefits.
She said she had found her mother dead in her bedroom from natural causes.
Police said she then purchased the deep freezer and placed her mother’s body inside, telling investigators she decided to conceal her death for fear she would lose their welfare payments.
During a search of the home, investigators found a heavily soiled mattress hidden in thick brush and cut palm tree branches in the backyard.
An autopsy revealed that the elderly woman died from natural causes and that she was dead for around two weeks before her body was placed inside the freezer.
Her 64-year-old daughter is now being held on $10,000 bond at the Indian River County Jail.
