(WHDH) — A woman is facing criminal charges after authorities say she kept her mother’s “mummified” corpse in her squalid home for several months so she could spend her social security benefits.
Geanee Pike, 54, of Lincoln, Arkansas, was arrested Monday on charges including abuse of a corpse and financial identity fraud in connection with the death of 72-year-old Gloria Pike, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Gloria was reported missing on July 21 and her brother told deputies that he had not seen her since August 2020, the news outlet reported, citing a report from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators spoke with Geanee who reportedly said her mother was with “an unknown friend at an unknown location.” Authorities then asked for consent to search her home, but Geanee refused.
A subsequent investigation is said to have uncovered security camera video that showed Geanee using her mother’s bank card at a Dollar General on July 27.
Officers armed with a search warrant later found no running water and human feces and urine in buckets scattered throughout Geanee’s home, according to the report. Gloria’s body was found mummified in newspaper from 2020 on a bed next to where her daughter slept.
Geanee reportedly told investigators that her mother died of natural causes but she never reported her death. She also allegedly claimed that her mother owed her money and promised to pay her with social security checks.
Geanee was being held at the Washington County Detention Center.
An investigation remains ongoing.
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