A Florida woman was arrested Thursday two months after police found out she was keeping her mom's body in a chest freezer as part of a scheme to collect disability benefits. On April 28, authorities found the body of 93-year-old Marie Hoskins while conducting a welfare check on the home, Newsweek reports.
The Sebastian police learned that the daughter did not report her mother's death and kept her mom's body hidden for around two weeks after she passed away due to natural causes. Hoskins admitted to authorities that she found her mother dead in the bedroom and kept her body as she was concerned that she would not be able to receive her disability benefits. She then purchased a freezer and stuffed the mother's body in it to keep receiving welfare checks.
Body found in a freezer
After getting a search warrant, authorities entered Hoskin's home and discovered a filthy mattress in the backyard, hidden under the brush and palm trees. However, it is not yet clear how the soiled mattress is connected to her mother's case.
Authorities charged Hoskins with failing to report her mother's death and tampering with evidence. She is now at Indian River County jail on a $10,000 bond.
Similar cases of collection from dead relative's benefits
A similar case was also reported in 2021 when authorities found a New Hampshire woman keeping her mother's corpse in her home for months as she continued to receive her mother's Social Security payments, Wyoming News reports.
In November of last year, police arrested Kimberly Heller for abuse of a corpse. Officers went to Heller's home in October after relatives reported that they had not seen Kimberly's mother for months.
When the police arrived at her home, Heller reportedly refused them, prompting authorities to get a search warrant. It was then they found her mother's body.
Authorities believe that the mother died of natural causes months earlier. Authorities said the Social Security checks were issued into a bank account after she died.
In 2019, police in Pennsylvania also found old human remains of Glenora Delahay in a freezer. As per their investigation, authorities found that Cynthia Black, Delahay's granddaughter, had been claiming her Social Security benefits since 2004.
As per Black, she found her grandmother's remains in their Ardmore home in 2004. Since their family needed the income from Delahay's Social Security, she put Delahay's remains in a freezer and kept it in the basement of the Ardmore home, WVTM reports.
In 2007, Black transported Delahay from her Ardmore home to the home in Dillsburg, using Delahay's Social Security income to pay the mortgage. Black was arrested and charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and abusing a corpse.
