A man, 43, was arrested after police found his long-dead mum in a room – sealed with insulating tape to mask the smell – at the home he hadn’t stepped out of in years
A man has been arrested after he was caught living with his dead mum in a flat he claimed he hadn’t left for at least eight years.
Police held the 43-year-old in his apartment, that he shared with his mother, after they discovered the OAP lying lifeless on her bed, with her radio still on and a fan beside her still going. The dead woman’s son, named locally only as Javier S, reportedly admitted to cops that he had sealed the door of 80-year-old Antonia’s bedroom with insulating tape to mask the bad smell from her rotting body.
The son also claimed he had survived on a diet of biscuits, rice and chickpeas – which his mum bought before she died – since she passed away a month ago.
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The horror discovery was made inside their flat in Majorca, Spain. Neighbours at the flat in the Palma neighbourhood of Santa Catalina said they hadn’t seen Javier leave the property for around 13 years.
He is said to have told investigators he hadn’t stepped outside for eight years and relied on his mum to do all their food shopping and run other errands.
Police made the grim discovery after a neighbour rang them to say she hadn’t seen Antonia for several weeks. Cops revealed a preliminary post-mortem report has pointed to a possible violent cause of death.
Javier, who is insisting he had nothing to do with his mum’s death, appeared in court in Palma yesterday and was bailed pending an ongoing probe and the return of the full autopsy results.
The son has not been formally charged with any crime but has been told he is under investigation on suspicion of “committing a crime against life”.
He was told to sign on at the court every fortnight, although sources close to the case admitted today they were unsure he would comply with his bail conditions, given that he voluntarily imprisoned himself in his flat for so many years.
One neighbour, speaking to local newspaper Diario de Mallorca, said: “It’s been around 13 years since I’ve seen Javier leave the flat. He was completely dependent on his mum who was a very active person, to the extent that he didn’t leave home ever even to go out shopping. Mentally she was in great shape and she didn’t have any problems at all climbing the stairs to get up to their apartment.”
Javier reportedly admitted to the judge, in a behind-closed-doors hearing yesterday, that he hadn’t left his apartment block in eight years and had survived on the food he found indoors after his mum died.
He is insisting she died of natural causes despite bloodstains reportedly being found in a bathroom, which the arrested man says is his. Cops revealed the local homicide unit was conducting an investigation into the death.
In a lengthy statement released today, the National Police in Majorca said: “On October 6 at around 2.20pm an emergency call was received from a woman who reported that she had not heard from her neighbour for over a month.
“Police found the door to the flat locked and firefighters were called to open the door. Just as they were working on the main entrance, the front door opened and a man appeared. The man was the son of the deceased, and he told the officers that his mother had died at the beginning of September and that her body was in her bedroom.
“As a result of the discovery, the established protocol for this type of incident was initiated. The officers carried out an inspection of the property, gathering all the information about what had happened, checking the strange circumstances surrounding the death and the unusual behaviour of the deceased woman’s son.”
The police added: “As the investigation progressed and based on the evidence and preliminary report, which confirmed the existence of injuries and determined a possible violent cause of death, the officers proceeded on October 14 to arrest the man as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against life, in order to continue the police investigation and bring him before the judicial authorities.
“The investigation remains open to clarify all the details of the tragic event, pending the final autopsy report, which will provide reliable evidence of the cause of death.”
