One woman’s mummy dearest has her in some legal trouble. Police charged Linda Chase, 72, with forgery after they found her mummified boyfriend, Charles Zigler, inside her Jackson, Mich. home. Chase previously admitted to cashing Zigler’s benefits checks, but she said the only reason she allegedly kept the man’s lifeless body for 18 months was that she was lonely.
“It’s not that I’m heartless. It’s just that after so many bad things happen to you, I don’t know,” Chase told MI Live earlier this month. “I didn’t want to be alone. He was the only guy who was ever nice to me.” Prosecutors charged Chase with cashing $28,000 worth of fraudulent checks in Zigler’s name, MI Live reports. Chase could face up to 14 years in prison, but likely won’t see any jail time if convicted because she has no previous criminal record. That doesn’t sit well with Zigler’s nephew, Aaron Dryer. “We’re just stunned,” he said. “I want her in jail. Our family wants her in jail.”
Prosecutor Hank Zavislak said he plans to take Chase’s mental state into account, according to a press release obtained by WLNS. “This is a very unusual case,” Zavislak said in the release.
