A Florida man has been arrested on suspicion of dumping his mother's body into a river after binding it with chains and cinder blocks, authorities said.
Joshua Cullen, 47, was taken into custody on Wednesday following an investigation into the disappearance of his mother, whose remains were found in the Peace River in March.
Deputies from the Lee County Sheriff's Office initially responded to a missing person report filed by Cullen on May 25. He claimed his mother had suffered a stroke, was hospitalised, or had left with a wealthy man, and that he had not seen her since March.
Investigators later discovered that Cullen had been accessing his mother's financial accounts and had purchased an RV. Sheriff Carmine Marceno said: 'We believe the woman died inside the home, and Cullen continued living alongside her deceased body. This sorry excuse for a man left this woman exposed, discarded, and alone while he selfishly carried on with his life.'
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office had recovered a body on March 29 after boaters spotted something submerged in the river. Sheriff Bill Prummell said: 'We located a woman wrapped in carpet, bound tightly and weighed down by cinder blocks and chains.' The remains were identified as Cullen's mother.
License plate reader technology linked Cullen's vehicle to the area on March 28, with a wheelbarrow attached to the roof. The wheelbarrow was later found near the recovery site. Cullen has been charged with neglect of an elderly person and abuse of a dead human body, with further charges possible.
