Neighbors of a woman in Iowa are shocked after police said they discovered she had hid the dead body of her 10-year-old boy for eight months in her garage.
Police were called to the Rock Island home of Sushi Staples on a welfare check based on a tip on July 25.
They found the remains of Zion Staples in a trash bin. Investigators said they believed he had been dead for about seven months.
Police said that Staples lied to them when she was asked about her son and claimed she didn’t have a son and that his birth certificate was fraudulent.
The woman was arrested and charged with four felonies, including concealment of a death and obstruction of justice.
The person who tipped off police also talked to KWQC-TV under the condition of anonymity and said they had made numerous calls to the Department of Children and Family Services about the situation for months.
The tipster claimed that Staples told them that Christmas “would never be the same.”
Andre and Danielle Builta lived in the neighborhood and said they had not seen anything abnormal.
“We saw that, we saw two girls. You know, coming sometimes, like out in the yard,” said Danielle Builta. “I saw them drawing with chalk in the back driveway.”
“And with scooters out front of the garage, everything seemed really normal,” added Andre Builta.
“They would wave when they saw us. And so we were like, Oh, they seem pretty friendly. Actually, for neighbors,” continued Danielle Builta.
An autopsy has been performed on the boy in Rockford, but officials have not yet released the results. No one has yet been charged in the death of the boy.
Here’s a local news report about the incident:
10-year-old boy found dead in his mother’s garbage can after seven monthswww.youtube.com
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