A son who lived with his mother's corpse for six years so he could keep cashing in on her pension is being investigated after the police discovered her mummified remains.
Mum Helga Maria Hengbarth reportedly died aged 86 some six years ago but her son told neighbours she has moved back to her native Germany.
The scam was not discovered until the police and firefighters broke into the apartment in Verona, in northern Italy's Veneto region, on May 25.
Helga had been unreachable and when the police checked her records they found she had not made any claims on her health insurance card in years, even during the coronavirus pandemic.
Inside the flat they made the gruesome find of Helga's badly decomposed, mummified corpse on her bed zipped into a body bag.
Her 60-year-old son, who has not been named and who was not at home at the time, later turned himself in to the police.
Prosecutors Bruno Bruni and Alberto Sergi ordered an autopsy to determine how Helga died.
Police are also investigating how Helga's son apparently managed to claim his mother's pension payments during the six years she was dead.
Local media reported he collected EUR 30,000 (GBP 26,050) per year for six years, totalling EUR 180,000 (GBP 156,300).
The investigation is ongoing.
Earlier this month, a man in the Netherlands was arrested for storing his dad's body in the freezer because he "didn't want to lose him".
The son, who is 82 years old, froze his dad, 101, after he died of natural causes around 18 months ago in Limburg in the Netherlands. He told local media: "I did not want to let him go or I would miss him."
The man went on to say that he also wanted to be able to continue talking with him despite him being deceased.
The De Limburger reported that the body had been discovered after their family doctor became worried about the father's health.
A police spokesman told the paper: “It is true that we found a body in a house in Mansholtstraat. It may be a resident of the building. Another resident has been identified as a suspect, but has not been arrested."
