Cops: Woman Drove Around With Body for Months

MUMMIFIED BODY IN CAR IDENTIFIED
(COSTA MESA, CA) -- The Orange County Coroner’s office says it has identified a mummified corpse that was left in a car's passenger seat for 10 months in Southern California, according to police.

Earlier it had been estimated it could take weeks to identify what is believed to be the body of homeless woman because the remains were virtually just skin and bones and weighed some 30 pounds.

However the coroner’s office says it was able to rehydrate (restore water and/or other liquids) the body's bone-dry fingertips to obtain a usable fingerprint.

The coroner’s office will not release the name of the person until next-of-kin are notified, said police. So far police have this information on the body told by the owner of the car:

The dried remains were found Monday in a car parked illegally. The driver is said to be a 57-year-old former real estate agent from an upscale beach community, who herself had fallen on hard times and was living with friends.

The driver told authorities she befriended the homeless woman in a park in nearby Fountain Valley and told her she could sleep in the car. When the driver found the woman dead in the passenger seat, she was afraid to tell police, she said.

Police have not determined if the as yet unidentified driver will face any charges in the case.

The driver of the car said she last saw the homeless woman alive in December, but it was not clear when the driver discovered the body. The driver had placed a box of baking soda in the car to mask the smell and covered the body with a blanket and some clothes, said police.

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Cops: Woman Drove Around With Body for Months
AP News- Police said Thursday they are conducting an investigation after discovering that a Southern California woman drove around, possibly for months, with the body of a homeless woman in her passenger seat.

Officers with the Costa Mesa police found the unidentified body on Monday after getting a call about a car partially blocking a driveway, Sgt. Ed Everett told The Orange County Register.

When officers arrived, they noticed a stench and saw a leg poking out from a blanket, he said.

The body was partially mummified and an autopsy found no signs of foul play.

The woman driving the car told police she let a homeless woman sleep in her car but the woman died in her car and she was afraid to go to the police, Everett said. The woman who drives the car, whose identity was withheld by police, told officers she had last seen the woman alive in December.

Because of the advanced state of decomposition, officials believe the woman had been dead anywhere from three to 10 months, Everett said.

Police also found a box of baking soda in the car, which the driver had used to try to cover up the smell.

The dead woman is believed to be from Fountain Valley and is in her 50s or 60s, authorities said.