CORPSE CRIMES
Faeces-eating cultists, heads in a fridge and a murder-solving duck
DUCK COP
Nellie Sullivan, 91, disappeared without trace in North Carolina in 2020, despite a police investigation attempting to locate her. Her disappearance remained a mystery until 14 April this year, when a neighbour’s pet duck ran underneath a trailer at a property belonging to Sullivan’s granddaughter and its owners discovered a container with Sullivan’s body in it. Sergeant Mark Walker of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said: “Apparently, the duck ran underneath the trailer at 11 Beady Eyed Lane, and as they were chasing after their pet duck, they ran across the container that Nellie Sullivan was located in,” adding, “If I could give that duck a medal, I would.” Police said that while they could not give a definitive date for Sullivan’s death, it was clear that she had been dead for some time and charged her granddaughter, Angela Wamsley, 46, and grandsonin-law, Mark Alan Barnes, 50, with first-degree murder, as well as concealing a death and other charges including drug possession and animal cruelty. They were also found to have been continuing to collect Sullivan’s social security and retirement benefits cheques and were refilling her prescriptions. news.yahoo.com, 27 Apr 2022.
COFFEE COFFIN
In Hawaii, police following up on a missing person report visited a home in the exclusive Hawaii Loa Ridge gated community, seeking the 73-year-old owner, who had not been seen for some time. He was nowhere to be found, but following a strong smell of coffee, they found that the property’s bathtub had been filled with concrete which had then been covered with coffee grounds. Chipping away at the concrete they found the homeowner encased inside, in an advanced state of decomposition. They had previously questioned Juan
Tejedor Baron, 23, who also lived at the property and was believed to have been in a relationship with the deceased, and Scott Hannon, 34, but released them without charge. On discovering the corpse, they sought the men once more; Hannon was picked up in Los Angeles, while Baron was arrested on a Greyhound bus in Southern California, en route to Mexico. Police said that he attempted to evade capture by pulling back a metal plate near the bus’s rear bathroom and crawling into a tiny space under an enclosed bench seat. abc7. com, 10 Mar 2022.
CANNIBAL CORPSE CULT
Following complaints from anti-cult activists, police in Chaiyaphum province, Thailand, raided a compound presided over by 74-year-old Thewee Nanla. Nanla was viewed as the leader of a group of disciples living at the property who revered him as a prophet and healer and called him “Father”. They believed his bodily waste and secretions had healing properties, eating his urine, fæces, phlegm and skin scrapings to cure a wide range of diseases. Police also found large tanks of fermenting fish, writhing with maggots and 11 corpses in coffins that were described as “waiting to go to heaven” by the disciples, who also admitted using substances oozing from the decaying remains in their healing practices and rituals. Police arrested Nanla, who was later bailed, but it remains unclear what he will be charged with. thairath.co.th, 8 May; dailynews. co.th, 9 May 2022.
FRIDGE OF HORROR
Police arrested former footballer, Richard Gyamfi, 28, after the father of a missing 13-year-old boy forced his way into his house in Suyani, Ghana, and found a fridge full of severed heads, including, sadly, his son’s. Investigators report finding “countless” body parts in the house and believe they had been collected for use in juju rituals. Metro, 25 Aug 2021.
WRAPPED IN PLASTIC
In April, police in Armuchee, Georgia, discovered the body of Doris Cumming, 82, in a freezer at the house she shared with her grandson, Robert Keith Tincher III, 29. Cumming had not been seen since last December and police believe that around then she was injured in a fall, but that instead of seeking help, Tichner had dragged her to the freezer, wrapped her in plastic bags and put her inside, even though he could see that she was still breathing. He has been charged with murder, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another. abc15.com, 16 Apr 2022.