LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Police have charged a man with abuse of a corpse and theft by deception after finding the decomposed body of his dead mother at their Louisville home.
Fifty-two-year-old Julius Harris surrendered after a standoff with police and hours of negotiations on Friday. Officers who had gone to the home to check on 89-year-old Sina B. Harris found her badly decomposed body in a back bedroom.
Spokeswoman Alicia Smiley tells The Courier-Journal that police suspect Harris had been collecting his mother's income and cashing her checks since her death. An autopsy confirmed that Harris' mother died in May.
Smiley said when officers first arrived at the home Harris opened the door while holding a gun to his head.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
