A woman in North Carolina allegedly concealed her mother’s dead body for months in their home so she could “see the stages of death,” police said.
The case began when Donna Sue Hudgins, 69, went to a funeral home to make arrangements for her mother, 93-year-old Nellie Mae Hudgins, Enfield Police Chief Tyree Davis said in a statement Tuesday.
Donna Sue Hudgins claimed that her mother died “that morning but that she did not know where EMS had taken the body,” police said.
When funeral home employees weren’t able to find the 93-year-old’s body either, they became concerned and called the Enfield Police Department, police said.
Authorities went to Nellie Mae Hudgins’ home in Enfield and spoke with Donna Sue Hudgins, who lived there as well, police said.
Once officers went inside, they “discovered a badly decomposed body,” police said.
Investigators determined that the 93-year-old’s body “was in the home for several months before the daughter notified family members of their mothers passing,” police said.
Detectives interviewed Donna Sue Hudgins and “learned that she did not report the death because she was curious and wanted to see the stages of death,” according to the police statement.
It was not immediately clear what day Donna Sue Hudgins went to the funeral home. An obituary published in the Rocky Mount Telegram states that Nellie Mae Hudgins died on Sept. 7, and that her funeral was held Sept. 11.
Donna Sue Hudgins was charged with felony concealment of death, police said. She is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 7, police said.
