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Police: Family lived with dead body in Holly Hill, collected woman's benefits

HOLLY HILL, Fla. — Two people faced a judge Friday after they were arrested on charges of living and raising three children in a Holly Hill house where a dead body was found. Police said the house was filled with dog feces, urine, drug paraphernalia, children and the decomposing body of Tiffany Cain.

Todd La Duke, 38, and Nicole Scalise, 32, admitted to using Cain's Social Security benefits and food stamps.

The Department of Children and Families contacted Holly Hill police to request a well-being check at a home on Center Avenue after it had been unable to contact its client since early September.

After officers forced entry to the home, they found La Duke, Scalise and the dead body of Cain, 33. Authorities believe Cain had been dead for at least two weeks.

"We are the ones that made the phone call to the police to do the well-being check because she was unable to contact her for two or three weeks," Francisco Gonzalez from Community Family, Inc. said.

According to Gonzalez, the caretaker he assigned to Cain tried to contact her several times.

"She tried several times through several weeks through emails, sending emails every week and we noticed she had no communication with us, so we decided to go check on her," Gonzalez said.

Community Family Inc. said they did their checks once a month. They would knock on the front door and Cain would either accept or deny their services. After they tried to get in contact with her for two weeks, that's when they went to police.

"She refuses services for many months. She didn't want any help. She didn't want anyone checking on her with her daily needs. She'd just say she was fine. It's sad, it's terrible," Gonzalez said.