LINCOLN, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A 54-year-old Arkansas woman was arrested Monday on charges of abuse of a corpse and financial identity fraud after her mother was allegedly found dead, wrapped in newspaper, in their shared home.
Geanee Pike is accused of living with the body of her mother, Gloria Pike, 73, and continuing to use the social security disability money that was being deposited into her mother’s account every month.
According to a preliminary report, on July 21, 2021, Gloria Pike was reported missing by her brother, George Maness.
Maness, who lives on the same property as Gloria next door, said he hadn’t seen his sister since August 2020. It was also reported that she had stage 4 breast cancer.
Police say several attempts were made to locate Gloria there but they were unsuccessful.
On July 21, investigators spoke to Geanee Pike, who said that her mother wasn’t missing but with an unknown friend at an unknown location
Geanee Pike did not consent to a request to search the house and told authorities she didn’t have access to her mom’s bank account or credit card, the report states.
Upon subpoenaing Gloria Pike’s bank account records, authorities say it showed a transaction on July 27, 2021, at the Dollar General in Lincoln.
Surveillance footage from the store “positively identified Geanee Pike using her missing mother’s check card,” and a search warrant of the home was written for financial identity fraud.
During the execution of the search warrant, authorities say the house was in “deplorable living conditions” with no running water. There were reportedly human feces and human urine collected in buckets and jugs all throughout the house.
The body of a woman was located on a bed in the living room/kitchen area, next to Geanee Pike’s bedroom.
The mummified body was wrapped in newspaper from 2020, and then wrapped over the newspaper with bedding, the report states.
Geanee Pike was home at the time of the search.
According to the report, Geanee Pike said her mother had died sometime at the end of 2020 of natural causes, but she didn’t report it and just covered her up with a blanket.
Geanee Pike was arrested for financial identity fraud and abuse of a corpse. She is currently being held at the Washington County Detention Center.
The body has been sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for positive identification and cause and manner of death.