Man lived with decomposing corpse of 72-year-old woman on his sofa for several months

A 64-year-old Michigan man has been charged with living with the dead body of a woman in his Redford Township trailer for several months. Court officers serving an eviction notice on Monday saw the body of Ann Marquis, 72, on a sofa. Although investigators said they believe she died of natural causes, they arrested her roommate of three years, Dennis McCauley, who they believed lived with her decomposing body for several months.

McCauley was arraigned on Friday in District Court in Redford Township on nine felony charges, including one count each of possessing a dead body, identity theft, conducting an illegal financial transaction, concealing the death of an individual, larceny between $1,000 and $20,000 and illegally possessing a credit card.



Prosecutors claim he failed to report Marquis' death, allowed her body to decay, used her credit card, stole her personal property and cashed her Social Security cheques. "I think it's terrible, living with a corpse," said neighbour Connie Laesch, 92, who knew Marquis for 10 years.  Laesch said she last saw Marquis in November, when Marquis complained about pain in her abdomen.

For weeks, Laesch had been asking others whether they knew what happened to Marquis. "I kept asking people, 'Have you seen Ann? Have you seen Ann? Nobody's seen Annie?' " Laesch said. She said she asked McCauley about three weeks ago. "I called him over and asked him where's Annie, and he told me she moved out three months ago," Laesch said. When she told the complex manager, she was told the complex was in the process of evicting Marquis for not paying rent.