Man left wife’s dead body in house for days so he wouldn’t ‘lose her,’ Florida cops say
A husband is accused of keeping the body of his deceased wife in their living room for days after she died from a suspected medical episode, Florida police said.
The 60-year-old called officers on Dec. 16 and said someone was inside his home and he believed his wife was dead, according to an arrest affidavit from the Panama City Beach Police Department obtained by Law and Crime.
When police arrived, the man didn’t come to the door and officers looked into the front window and saw a woman on the floor, according to the affidavit.
Police said they again tried to contact the man, but after failing to reach him, they forced their way into the house to check on the woman.
Police said she was “obviously deceased,” and a portion of her face was missing, according to the affidavit.
Her left foot was also missing, police said.
The man then told police at least four days earlier his wife had called out from their living room asking for help, according to the affidavit.
He said by the time he reached her, she was already dead and lying in a pool of blood, police said.
The man knew he should have called someone, according to the affidavit, but didn’t because he “did not want to lose her,” he told police.
He told officers the couple’s two dogs chewed on his wife’s body, eating part of her face and foot, according to the affidavit.
Based on the level of decomposition of his wife’s body, police said, officers believe she had been dead for more than five days.
Her cause of death will be determined by the Bay County medical examiner, police said.
The man was taken into custody and charged with improper storage of human remains, according to the affidavit.
Panama City Beach is about 110 miles southwest of Tallahassee.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 7:47 AM with the headline "Man left wife’s dead body in house for days so he wouldn’t ‘lose her,’ Florida cops say."
