A horror film-maker has been arrested after the decomposed body of his mother was found in her home – a year after her death.
Police made the grisly discovery in Tombstone, Arizona.
An officer had gone to 68-year-old Jill Fattig’s home to do a welfare check and when no one answered the door, he questioned her son, Timothy.
The 34-year-old film-maker for Desert Scream Productions told the deputy his mother was in a Tucson hospital.
When authorities found this was untrue, Mr Fattig admitted his mother had died a year ago and with a search warrant , deputies discovered her skeletal remains inside the house.
Mr Fattig told deputies that when he found his mother’s body, he was so overcome with grief he never reported her death.
He had been telling people around Tombstone for several months that his mother was in a hospital, said Marshal Billy Cloud.
Mr Fattig was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide and booked on a $40,000 bond at the Cochise County Jail.
But if an autopsy reveals his mother died of natural causes, charges are likely be downgraded to failure to report a death which is a misdemeanour.
