Florida woman accused of hiding mother’s body in freezer so she could keep receiving her disability checks. Autopsy revealed Marie Hoskins died from natural causes and was dead for around two weeks before her body was placed inside the freezer. She is arrested and charged with failing to report the death of her mother and tampering with evidence.
Florida Woman Hid Mother's Dead Body In Freezer So She Could Keep Receiving Her Disability Payments
By
Zainab Pervez in
Crime
On 15th July 2022
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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.
Her 93-year-old mother’s body was found after a welfare check was conducted in late April, according to the Sebastian Police Department’s Facebook page. The daughter told investigators she bought the deep freezer and put her mother’s body in it so she could keep receiving her disability payments.
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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. The department said an investigation showed the woman died of natural causes and that she was dead for two weeks before her body was put in the freezer. Investigators searching the property found a heavily stained mattress hidden in thick brush and covered with cut palm leaves, police said.
The woman is being held in the Indian River County jail on $10,000 bond. Online jail records didn’t list a lawyer for her.