A New Orleans woman was found living with the mummified body of her son who had been dead for at least nine months, a police report has revealed.
An officer with the New Orleans Police Department responded to her home on Argonne Street on May 7 after a neighbor called to report that the door was open and chickens were wandering around.
When the officer arrived, the homeowner was nowhere to be found. Once inside, he noticed the trash and chicken feces had piled up and there was an infestation of flies and other bugs.
In one of the bedrooms, he made a gruesome discovery – a mummified corpse.
Police tracked down the woman at the intersection of Argonne Street and Harrison and asked her about the dead body in her home, according to the police report obtained by WDSU.
“That's my son,” she told him. “He died about nine months ago,” she said, adding that he suffered from multiple medical conditions.
The woman is a former doctor who had her medical license revoked, WDSU reported. It is unclear why the woman never reported the death of her son who was said to be close to 600 pounds.
Police had the woman transported to an area hospital for evaluation and treatment. Her son’s body was removed by the Orleans Parish Coroner and the house was condemned. There are no plans, however, to demolish the house as of right now, according to code enforcement officials.
Public permit records show that over the years, neighbors filed multiple complaints about the trash building up on the property and the influx of bugs and rodents.
No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing.
