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Michigan Woman Kept Man’s Dead Body for 18 Months, Watched NASCAR with It
Linda Chase, 72, found herself on the wrong end of the law recently when police discovered that she had been hiding a friend’s dead, mummified body in his home.
What did she do with that body? She watched NASCAR with it, apparently.
According to MLive.com, Charles Williams Zigler was 67 or 68 when he died at some point in December of 2010. While his exact cause of death is unknown right now, Chase maintains that he passed in his sleep. Given his age and the fact that cops didn’t find any signs of foul play – that’s believable enough.
It’s the other part of this story that makes it really strange, though.
Instead of reporting Zigler’s death to the proper authorities, Chase opted to keep, dress and regularly clean him.
When she wasn’t taking care of the corpse, Chase would simply enjoy its company. Via the report:
She would talk to him and watch NASCAR races on television with him.
This peculiar situation was eventually discovered when some of Zigler’s family members became concerned about not hearing from him for a while. They contacted the police, who in turn went to his house and found him just sitting there in his chair.
Chase was questioned about her role in keeping and preserving Zigler’s body, but apparently no legal action was taken.
"It's not that I'm heartless. It's just that after so many bad things happen to you, I don't know," Chase told MLive.com on Tuesday afternoon.
"I didn't want to be alone. He was the only guy who was ever nice to me."
As heart-wrenching as that is, this story becomes slightly less sad when you learn that Chase had also been cashing his benefits checks. She admitted this much to police.
"I'm probably going to prison," she said in the interview, also noting that she had asked police if there was a way to pay back the cashed checks.
"I told them the truth. I didn't lie about that."
What happens next? Time will tell. But it’s probably safe to say that this won’t improve people’s perceptions of NASCAR fans.
(Kudos MLive, Yahoo! Sports)
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Comments
This situation is
This situation is complicated. Other posters, here, lament how sad it is -- and it is, don't get me wrong -- but they seem to be ignoring that the woman's most likely motive was being able to continue cashing his checks.
The fact that she continued dressing him and whatnot; and that she talked about not wanting to be alone; and that he was the only guy who was ever nice to her...
...all of that is the complicating part, because if she were ONLY interested in cashing his checks, then that's all she would havd done. That said, had that been all she did, then the smell of his rotting corpse would have attracted authorities sooner; and so even her caring for the body is suspect.
Complicated, no?
The old adage "follow the money," though, is usually the best advice. If the woman is sincere in the things she said about the guy, and why she cared for the body, then that should certainly be taken into consideration. However, the likelihood is that being able to cash his checks was the number one motivation...
...and, if so, then that's how authorities should treat the situation.
At her age, though, prison would obviously not be a good thing...
...er... thatis... unless, of course, she'd now be in serious financial trouble and even homeless now that she doesn't have the checks to cash anymore; in which case, if she's sent to the right kind of prison, she might actually be better cared for... but who knows. Prison, though, no matter how nice, is likely not the answer.
[sigh] This is a weird one. Not sure what should be done.
Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com
Veritas nihil veretur nisi abscondi.
Veritas nimium altercando amittitur.
Sad story of a woman that
Sad story of a woman that just couldn't let go. Doesn't she realize that everyone eventually dies?
This is just sad. And State of Reason, you are right; it has nothing to do with NASCAR.
The insanity principle is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. The far right, the far left, vegans, creationists and other extremists believe in the insanity principle, religiously.
I've already got a pretty low
I've already got a pretty low opinion of NASCAR fans but the last statement in this story is idiotic. This whole thing has nothing to do with NASCAR fans. Just one lonely crazy old lady.