Jury Seeks Death for Slasher
Amy Blanche Stewart Kept Dead Mom Blanche Roth in House for 8 Months
Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:45 pm
UPDATE: Amy Blanche Stewart likely hid her mother's death so she could continue to cash her retirement checks, say police. See update after the jump...
Police believe 88-year-old Blanche Roth died in her Ogden, North Carolina home sometime last spring. But her death was only reported to police yesterday. She wasn't a shut-in who went unnoticed. She lived with her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren in a well-kept home.
It seems her daughter, Amy Blanche Stewart, decided only now that it was time to report mom's death. According to WWAY-TV, her 911 call went like this:
Caller: we have an older, elderly lady in the house, who has died and we need her taken to the morgue.
911: and how long ago was it that this happened?
Caller: uh, I don't know I'm going to say a month.
911: ok, you believe that she passed away a month ago?
Caller: yeah.
911: alright, but she's still in the house?
Caller: yes
Blanche's decaying body was found lying in a bedroom. But police still don't know why her daughter refused to report her death, or how the family stomached the smell of a body left to rot for eight months. Stewart's three kids are ages 23, 17 and 15, surely old enough to file a report on their own. 
Amy Blanche Stewart lived with her husband and three kids, ages 15-23. Why wouldn't anyone report the death of grandma?
"You wonder what would go through someone's mind to not report a relative dying. We're trying to, at this point figure out, there's got to be more to the story" said sheriff Ed McMahon.
Stewart has been charged with concealing her mom's death, which is a low-level felony in North Carolina. And police are examining whether she had a fiscal motive to keep Blanche's passing from being noticed. In cases like this, it usually involves a relative who hopes to continue cashing Social Security or pension checks.
It appears that the family was suffering from financial problems. A neighbor says their water would occasionally be shut off. Stewart's husband is also wheelchair-bound, meaning he may have been unable to work.
But after eight months of living with that horrendous smell, it could be that Stewart is just downright nuts.
UPDATE: Police believe Amy Stewart had a financial motive for not alerting authorities to her mother's death.
According to police, she continued to cash her mom's Social Security checks and other retirement benefits in the months after Blanche Roth is believed to have died. But while that seems a plausible motive, it still doesn't explain why those with no vested interest in the money never called the cops.
According to some reports, Stewart doesn't have a job so she can stay home and take care of her wheelchair-bound husband, which would certainly explain why she's broke. But the stench in the home had to be overpowering. And it's hard to believe her kids -- ages 23-15 -- would go along with a plot to keep dead grandma housed in the bedroom.
Moreover, neighbor Benjamin Kenner says the family had constant visitors. "I see a lot of people coming and going - cars, different cars, coming and going at all times of the night."
As we learned from the case of serial killer Anthony Sowell, most people wouldn't immediately recognize the smell of decaying flesh. But it still seems miraculous that no one would report such an overwhelming stench for eight months.
Tags: North Carolina
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