Mummified Woman Thought She'd Come Back To Life
Family, Friends Continued To Visit Remains
UPDATED: 9:17 am EST January 10, 2006
CINCINNATI -- It may be weeks before officials know what killed an Ohio woman whose mummified remains were discovered in a chair in front of her television set.
Johannas Pope's body was found last week, dressed in white, in the upstairs of her home in Madisonville, Ohio. She died two and a half years ago at age 61.
The Hamilton County coroner said Pope told her live-in caregiver she didn't want to be buried. The coroner said an air conditioner left running allowed the body to slowly mummify, while some family members continued to live downstairs.
Investigators said they don't think there was any foul play, and that the reason the body was never removed was that Pope told her former caretaker she'd come back from the dead. In fact, the woman bought clothes for Pope just last month.
"This woman truly felt she did not want anyone to see her when she died and that she was going to come back alive," Coroner O'dell Owens said.
Police found the body after a call from a relative who hadn't seen the woman in years. Authorities said it's not clear if any crime was committed.
Pope’s Friends and family would occasionally stop by her upstairs room to say hello to her mummified body, officials said.
Pope had suffered from lupus but didn't want medical attention, and she hadn't seen a doctor for 10 years before her death.
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