A Chicago woman has been accused of keeping her mother's body in a freezer for nearly two years while living in a nearby apartment.
Eva Bratcher, 69, appeared in court on Thursday on charges of concealing her 96-year-old mother’s death and possessing a fraudulent identification card.
Regina Michalski's body was discovered this week in a freezer in the garage near the apartment they had shared, police said. Investigators believe she died in March 2021.
Cause of death cannot be determined until the body has thawed.
The allegations are “very disturbing”, Judge David Kelly said while setting a $20,000 bond for Ms Bratcher.
Mr Kelly turned down a defence lawyer's request for a lower bond to get Ms Bratcher out of jail.
She has past convictions for forgery, and investigators said they were trying to determine if Ms Bratcher was collecting her late mother's Social Security benefits, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Ms Bratcher's daughter, who lives in Kentucky, asked police to check the home after losing contact with her grandmother.
