A US woman said she kept the body of her dead friend in a chair at her home for more than a year and a half because she didn't want to be alone.
Police in Jackson, Michigan, found the mummified body of Charles Zigler, 67, sitting in a living room chair last week, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reports.
His friend and roommate, Linda Chase, 72, has admitted to cleaning and dressing Mr Zigler's body after he died so she could talk and watch television with him.
"It's not that I'm heartless," she said.
"I didn't want to be alone. He was the only guy who was ever nice to me."
Ms Chase hasn't been arrested, but she is being investigated for financial fraud after she admitted to cashing in Mr Zigler's social security cheques.
Police believe Mr Zigler died of natural causes in 2010, but Ms Chase said he only passed away last December when "he just fell asleep".
She said there wasn't a bad smell coming from the body.
Police were alerted to the situation after a family member became concerned for Mr Zigler's welfare.
It's unclear why the family member waited so long to call police.
"That wasn't right to leave him lay like that," said Mr Zigler's son, Walter.
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