A woman reportedly concealed her mother’s death and hid her remains to access her finances.
Last month, the City of Ukiah Police Department was contacted by a man reporting suspicious circumstances after the death of his 58-year-old sister.
The man had traveled to Ukiah after learning that his sister was hospitalized. When he arrived, she had already passed away.
According to the man, his mother lived in the same house as his sister, who he last talked to in 2013. He told the police he’d been informed that his mother passed away in August 2013.
The man states that his mother was in poor health, so her death was not suspicious then. His sister then informed him that their mother’s remains were sent to a medical research facility at her request.
The sister continued to live at the house following their mother’s death.
While the man was in Ukiah to attend to estate matters, he visited the house and found financial documents in his mother’s name. All were recent documents, including banking and checking account activities.
The man found this suspicious as his mother’s account should have been closed.
He then contacted Ukiah PD and informed them of the circumstances. Investigators soon learned that there were no official records of the mother’s passing.
The recent banking activity and the lack of a death certificate led the police to believe that the sister had concealed her mother’s death to keep her accounts open.
Searching the property, skeletal remains were discovered and identified as the mother’s.
A county forensic pathologist examined the remains and identified the cause of death as natural.
Based on the evidence and documents gathered, police concluded that the sister concealed the mother’s death to benefit financially via fraud.
With the sister now deceased, police say the case is no longer being investigated.
