Barbara Hainsworth has been identified as the woman who lived with the mummified remains of her 600-pound son for nine months
A woman is under investigation after authorities discovered she had been living for nine months with the mummified remains of her 600lb son.
The New Orleans woman has been identified as Barbara Hainsworth, an elderly woman with mental health issues, according to NOLA.com. A report filed with the city’s Healthy Homes Administration described her home as being overrun with garbage, chickens, roosters and rats.
City code enforcement officers found the remains on Thursday, May 15, after multiple complaints from neighbours about the worsening condition of the property. The home was officially condemned due to health hazards.
Hainsworth, a former doctor whose medical licence was revoked about a decade ago, reportedly told police, “That’s my son. He died about nine months ago.” His name has not been released, but Hainsworth said he had suffered from various medical issues.
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Officials from the Department of Code Enforcement (DCE) began investigating the property on May 7 after a referral from the New Orleans Health Department. A statement from DCE described the discovery of a mummified male body, severe hoarding, and extensive trash both inside and around the home.
“A Code Enforcement investigator was immediately dispatched to the property. DCE’s investigation revealed horrific conditions, including the remains of a mummified male body and evidence of extreme hoarding conditions, along with mounds of trash in and around the property,” the statement read.
“DCE informed its demolition contractor to be on standby to perform an assessment to clean-up and remove the trash and seal the hole in the bathroom floor. The property was also scheduled to be boarded by the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD).”
On May 6, just a day before the investigation began, Hainsworth was fined $6,125 and her home was officially declared a public nuisance.
READ MORE: ‘My sister killed our parents and lived with their mummified bodies for four years’
A mobile crisis unit was dispatched to assess her mental health. She has not been arrested or charged, and the investigation remains ongoing.
It comes as a woman whose sister killed their parents then kept their mummified bodies at home for four years has spoken of her own shame and guilt.
Louise Hopkins’ sister Virginia McCullough pleaded guilty to the murders of her dad John and mum Lois McCullough, who were both in their 70s. Debt-ridden McCullough, 36, is thought to have murdered her parents fearing they were about to expose the credit card fraud she had carried out in their names.
McCullough is now serving a minimum of 36 years behind bars after admitting killing them both in June 2019. For the four years following the murders she plundered her parents’ bank accounts, using the cover of Covid to conceal their murders from family and to cash in their pensions as their bodies decomposed.
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