SALEM TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The body of a northeastern Ohio woman was discovered in a camper more than six years after her death, authorities said.
The bizarre scene unfolded while Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin was investigating the death of Robert Rea, 70, of Salem Township, earlier this month, WFMJ-TV reported.
Rea, the owner of Nettle Creek Farm & Nursery, had died of apparent natural causes on Dec. 31, according to the television station.
Sheriff: Man lived with deceased wife for six years https://t.co/q4vdBXO3Q4 pic.twitter.com/kdaLMUvtdR
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Then deputies learned about a strange twist.
The man’s son, 29-year-old John Rea, showed up at the sheriff’s office on Jan. 2 and told deputies that his mother, Peggy Rea, was dead in a camper on the property, the Salem News reported. He added that his mother had been dead since 2017.
“I was surprised how intact she was. I was expecting bones,” McLaughlin told the newspaper on Tuesday.
Peggy Rea’s body was unclothed and wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by herbs, the Patriot-News reported.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 34 years and never seen anything like it,” McLaughlin told WFMJ. “I have never seen a body that has been gone that long and still that intact. We’ve had bodies that have been gone for much, much less time and had next to nothing left.”
According to a police report, John Rea told deputies that his father had been living inside the trailer and was taking care of Peggy Rea’s remains, the television station reported. The report listed Peggy’s birth year as 1953.
The sheriff said that preliminary findings by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office showed that both Robert and Peggy Rea died of natural causes, the Salem News reported.
McLaughlin said that John Rea, who knew that his mother’s body was in the camper, told him that his parents were devout Quakers and believed that a husband and wife should be buried together, according to the newspaper.
John Rea and another relative lived in the house on the property, located at Salem Grange Road, and knew about Peggy Rea’s remains.
McLaughlin said that through the years, his office received one call requesting a welfare check on Peggy Rea, but deputies were told that she moved to Florida, the Salem News reported.
At this point no charges have been filed, and McLaughlin was unsure if any would be pending.
“We’ll get everything together and go to the prosecutor,” McLaughlin told the newspaper.
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