A group of seven burglars are accused of squatting in and looting their victim’s home in Georgia while his mummified body was still inside.
Cobb County Police responded to the home in Smyrna, Georgia in early October for a wellness check, but instead found Robert Westbrook, the 71-year-old homeowner and lone occupant, dead in his bathtub, WANF reported.
“He was in a severe state of decomposition. It’s called mummification,” Detective Daniel Goduto told WANF.
Detectives said that Westbrook died of natural causes and his body had been in the bathtub for around three months. However, they also found evidence that someone else had taken up residence in the home during those months Westbrook’s corpse lay in the bathtub.
“[The home] was ransacked. Drawers were overturned. His master bedroom was completely just disheveled,” Goduto told the local outlet.
“But then, there were items consistent with somebody still living there. The trash looked like it was taken out regularly. It looked like there was stuff in the garbage can that was fairly new,” he added.
Police received a call the day after the wellness check from a neighbor of Westbrook’s who knew that he had died claiming that they saw people on his property. Officers went to check on the home again and found four suspects with pieces of Westbrook’s property loaded into their vehicle, ready to abscond with the dead man’s belongings — including his money, electronics, and even his car.
“They had the victim’s credit cards. They had some checks from him,” Goduto said.
Police were able to recover Westbrook’s stolen car at a nearby gas station — complete with the remaining three suspects who had made off with the vehicle.
“They had made purchases inside of the gas station. They were playing the lottery machines inside of the gas station with his money.”
All seven suspects knew each other, with a few having previous criminal histories in Cobb County, according to the detective.
“It goes to show their moral compass, if you will,” Goduto said.
“I mean, they broke into someone’s home. They saw him deceased on the ground and instead of saying, ‘Hey, we messed up. Let’s call 911. We found this guy dead,’ they decided to just live there.”
Unsuspecting neighbors were unnerved by their neighbor’s demise and the squatters who made themselves at home.
“I had no idea that this had been happening,” neighbor Sophia Da Silva told WANF.
“I had no idea that he was dead. I had no idea that he was robbed. It was quite shocking.”
The outside of Westbrook’s home was choked by overgrown vegetation, which police believe made the residence an easy target since it looked abandoned.
“I think they thought it was a vacant house,” Goduto said.
“If you know you have an elderly neighbor, check on them. If you see their house is overgrown, check on them,” he said in a call-out to the public.