LOGANSPORT, Ind. — A Logansport woman was arrested after police discovered her decaying mother in their house. Officers were called about suspicious circumstances at 910 22nd St. on Friday.
Officers got a search warrant to go in and found animal feces covering the floor and the house in disarray. Officers then found a woman who had died in a "reclining chair with a pillow under her head and her body was covered in blankets, appearing to be an attempt to cover the body from sight," the police report stated.
According to the Pharos Tribune, the body was identified as 65-year-old Cynthia Newman. The police report said it showed "extensive decompensation where the hands were showing bone and the skin was beginning to peel off. The body was covered with insects and it appeared some of the animals inside the house had been eating the remains."
Police questioned Newman's 41-year-old daughter, Jaclyn Martell Beebout, who told them her mother was alive for Thanksgiving, but she wasn't sure if her mother was around for Christmas. When police asked why she didn't report the death, since they lived in the same home, she told them she didn't want to be alone. She also admitted taking at least $3,000 out of her mother's bank account.
Beebout was arrested for theft and failing to report a dead body. The cause of her mother's death is still unknown, but the coroner said it did not appear there was foul play. Beebout already had a warrant out for her on a possession of methamphetamine case.
