Man’s decomposing body found in Bellmead trailer home; daughter charged
BELLMEAD, Texas (KWTX) - A Central Texas woman is behind bars after police officers found her father’s decomposing body lying in filth inside a mobile home at a trailer park.
Crystal Martin, 44, is charged with abuse of a corpse and resisting arrest, according to online jail records and court documents.
Bellmead police officers were dispatched to a mobile home unit in the 4000 block of E. Harris shortly before 3 p.m. on Oct. 22.
The officers entered the trailer and found the body of a man lying on the floor.
According to the arrest warrant, the body of 66-year-old Jerry Freeman was in a state of decomposition and covered in “filth from the multiple dogs in the house.”
“I could observe bloating and lividity with the corpse,” a police officer wrote in the warrant.
Martin, identified by police as the victim’s daughter, had been in the residence with the corpse and did not report the man’s death, police said.
Police further allege Martin failed to take any measures to care for her father’s remains.
A neighbor told KWTX health care workers performing a medical wellness check are the ones who found the body and alerted police.
The owner of the trailer park property told KWTX that Freeman and Martin had been living together since 2009.
Martin was arrested on Oct. 22 and is being held at the McLennan County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
The abuse of a corpse charge is a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in a state jail facility.
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