Police: Electra woman arrested after allegedly living with corpse for weeks

An Electra woman was arrested after authorities found she and her child had been living with a dead body for weeks.

Susan Smith was arrested Tuesday and is charged with Tampering/Fabricating Physical Evidence/Failure to Report Human Remains and Abandoning/Endangering a Child.

Police do not suspect foul play in the death.

According to allegations made in an arrest affidavit:

In early December, Electra Police responded to the Electra Village Apartments for a report of a foul odor coming from inside of one of the apartments.

They found a partially open window with flies all over it. When they didn’t get a response after trying to make contact, officers gained entry and found a decomposing, deceased man covered up with a blanket and trash bag in the hallway. They identified the people living in the home as Susan Smith and her 11-year-old child.

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Smith identified the deceased man as the child's father. She told police she did not report his death because he was not supposed to be there, and she did not want to be evicted. Smith said she left the body lying on the floor while they continued to live around him. She told them he had been deceased for approximately three or four weeks.

Police also found several open buckets of human waste where they had been going to the bathroom due to not having water in the apartment. Police described the apartment as unlivable, cluttered with trash, rotting food, human waste and a decomposing deceased person.

Child Protective Services was contacted, and they took possession of the child. The child was transported to the hospital to be treated for open sores and bug bites due to neglected living conditions.

Smith's bond was set at $7,500 by a judge.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Woman arrested after allegedly living with corpse for weeks