ELIZABETH, Indiana (AP) -- A man upset over the prospect of
arranging his mother's funeral instead left her body in the
chair where she died for more than five years.
Relatives in Kentucky asked police Monday to check on Myrtle
Petrie, saying they had not heard from her in years. Officers
went to the house and found the elderly woman's bones in the
chair covered with bedding.
"The son stated when his father passed away, what they had to
go through at that time was very upsetting, and he didn't want
to go through that again," said Paul Cesar, the deputy Harrison
County coroner. The father had died in the early 1970s.
Authorities would not release the son's name but said he
appeared to be about 50.
The son was placed in the custody of adult welfare officials,
and he was admitted for a mental health assessment, said Capt.
Richard Bauman, a detective with the Harrison County Sheriff's
Department.
"He didn't really want to let her go, and didn't know what to
do," Bauman said. "As time went on ... he was afraid he would
get in trouble for not reporting the death immediately."
The son told police his mother died in February 1994. She would
have been 75 when she died. Autopsy results were pending
