A Van Zandt County man is facing a charge of abusing a corpse after he told sheriff's deputies he covered his deceased mother's body in plastic and kept her in their home for weeks after her death, the county sheriff's office says.
On Monday, Feb. 20, sheriff's deputies were asked to do a welfare check at the home of 75-year-old Jacqueline Conrad. At the home, deputies spoke with Conrad's son who said she was inside but that she was deceased.
The man, identified by the sheriff's office as 49-year-old Douglas Kilburn, also told deputies that his mother died of natural causes in the first week of the month and that he wrapped up her body in a piece of plastic and secured it with tape.
"Van Zandt County Sheriff's deputies obtained a search warrant that same day and upon entering the residence they found what appeared to be a human body completely wrapped in plastic and taped up," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
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The woman's body was taken to the Southwestern Institute of Forensics Sciences for analysis and to confirm her cause of death.
The investigation into the woman's death is ongoing.
Kilburn was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse without legal authority, according to jail records. He was being held at the Van Zandt County Justice Center on a bond of $50,000. It's not clear if Kilburn has obtained an attorney.
