Ohio ladies took man’s physique to financial institution to withdraw cash, police say

ASHTABULA, Ohio (AP) — Two Ohio ladies have been accused of driving the physique of a deceased 80-year-old man to a financial institution to withdraw cash from his account earlier than dropping his physique off at a hospital.

Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, had been charged Tuesday in Ashtabula with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from an individual in a protected class, in line with Ashtabula Municipal Courtroom data.

Police stated they had been referred to as Monday night and advised that two ladies had dropped off a physique on the Ashtabula County Medical Heart emergency room with out figuring out the particular person or themselves. Just a few hours later, considered one of them contacted the hospital with data on the deceased, who was then recognized as 80-year-old Douglas Layman of Ashtabula.

Officers responded to Layman’s residence and made contact with Casbohm and Feralo, who advised them that they had discovered Layman deceased earlier on the residence the place all three resided. Police allege that, with the assistance of a 3rd unnamed particular person, they positioned Layman within the entrance seat of his automobile and drove to a financial institution the place they withdrew “an undisclosed sum of money” from his account.

Layman’s physique “was positioned within the car in such a fashion that he could be seen to financial institution employees with a view to make the withdrawal,” Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell stated in a information launch Thursday. Stell advised the (Ashtabula) Star Beacon that the financial institution ”had allowed this beforehand so long as they had been accompanied by him.”

Lt. Mike Palinkas advised WEWS-TV that one of many ladies had been in a live-in relationship with Layman for a number of years whereas the opposite had been staying there for a number of months. The ladies stated it was regular for them to take cash from the account, however Palinkas stated he didn’t have a full rationalization for why they went there that day.

“Allegedly, they needed to pay some payments however outdoors of that, there wasn’t a particular motivation supplied,” Palinkas stated.

Casbohm was arraigned and ordered held on $5,000 bond whereas Feralo is scheduled for arraignment subsequent week. It’s unclear whether or not they have attorneys; numbers listed of their names had been disconnected. A message was despatched to the county public defender’s workplace in search of remark if the workplace was defending one or each.

Police stated they proceed to analyze and different fees are doable. The coroner’s workplace stated an post-mortem to find out the reason for Layman’s demise may take as much as eight months.