A man who spent ten years with his mother’s mummified corpse sat at his kitchen table has been found dead next to her.
Claudio Alferi, 58, was discovered lying over a chair in his Buenos Aires apartment beside a ‘dried out’ woman wrapped in plastic bags and wearing slippers.
Police and firefighters burst into the property on Wednesday after neighbours complained of a bad smell lasting since mid-December.Forensic experts and neighbours identified the woman as Mr Alferi’s mother, Margarita Aimer de Alferi
Residents in Carapachay, on the outskirts of the Argentine capital, told detectives they last saw Ms Alferi a decade ago when she was 90 – but her son had insisted she was alive and well.
Forensic experts called to the rundown property on Wednesday believe Ms Alferi died between eight and 10 years ago.Mr Alferi, they claim, has been dead for 30 days.
Police told local media Mr Alferi is believed to have suffered a psychological breakdown after his mother’s death, and also suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder.They are now probing allegations he hid his mother’s corpse because of a problem over inheritance.
A police source said:
‘The old lady’s body was covered in bags and plastic and she still had her winter slippers on.’It looked like she had been covered up lovingly.’
A neighbour added:
‘Claudio was a recluse and rarely spoke to us.Whenever anyone asked about his mum he’d just say: “She’s fine.”