‘Mummified body’ of missing woman discovered in daughter’s Arkansas home, sheriff says

The “mummified body” of a missing Arkansas woman was discovered recently inside her daughter’s home, officials said.

The brother of 72-year-old Gloria Pike reported his sister missing last month after he had not heard from her since August 2020, even though they lived next door to each other, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

He told investigators that Pike had breast cancer and lived with her daughter, Geanee Pike, but attempts to find his sister had failed.

When an investigator visited the daughter’s home, she said her mom wasn’t missing but rather “with an unknown friend at an unknown location,” according to officials. Pike refused to let authorities enter her home.

A subpoena of bank records and surveillance video revealed Pike used her mother’s debit card at a Dollar General six days after the investigator visited.

The sheriff’s office obtained a search warrant for the home and found the “mummified body” of a woman wrapped in bedding and newspaper from 2020 in the living room and kitchen area, officials said. The home had no running water, and investigators found buckets of feces and urine throughout.

Pike told investigators her mom died last year from natural causes but she kept collecting Social Security money, officials said.

“Geanee told me her mom owed her money, then told me she would pay it back when she got her own disability money back pay from the government,” a sheriff’s sergeant wrote in a report.

Pike was arrested Monday on charges of abuse of a corpse and financial identity fraud.

Lincoln is a small town in northwest Arkansas.

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 4:34 PM with the headline "‘Mummified body’ of missing woman discovered in daughter’s Arkansas home, sheriff says."