Woman drove for months with dead body in passenger seat

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Medical examiners have identified a mummified corpse that was left in a car's passenger seat for 10 months in Southern California, a police spokesman said Friday.

Authorities had said earlier it could take weeks to identify the homeless woman, but the Orange County coroner's office was able to rehydrate the desiccated body's fingertips to obtain a usable fingerprint, said Costa Mesa police Detective Sgt. Paul Beckman. The office will not release the name until next-of-kin are notified, he said.

The woman's remains, discovered Monday in a car parked illegally in Costa Mesa, are little more than skin and bones and weigh 30 pounds, said police Sgt. Ed Everett.

The car's driver befriended the homeless woman in a park in nearby Fountain Valley and told her she could sleep in the car. When she found the woman dead in the passenger seat, she was afraid to tell police, Everett said.

The driver is a 57-year-old former real estate agent from Corona del Mar, an upscale beach community, who herself had fallen on hard times and was living with friends, he said.

Authorities have not determined if the driver, whose name has been withheld, will face any charges in the case.

"We would obviously be looking at what laws deal with the transportation of bodies. Ultimately, this is still an undetermined death," Beckman said. "There's still a vast amount of investigation necessary."

The woman whose car she died in last saw her in December, but it wasn't immediately clear when she discovered the body, Everett said.

The driver had placed a box of baking soda in the car to mask the smell and covered the body with a blanket and some clothes, he said.

Officers found it Monday when they noticed a stench while responding to a call about an illegally parked vehicle.

wow... this is just disturbing

so the driver isn't facing any charges at the moment? last i heard the consealment of a corpse was a crime.only in cali would they be that effed up with the law.

delta1025 wrote:

so the driver isn't facing any charges at the moment? last i heard the consealment of a corpse was a crime.only in cali would they be that effed up with the law.

technically I guess she wasn't concealing it.
it was in the passenger seat, not the trunk.

still really messed up though!!

The BLAY wrote:

delta1025 wrote:

so the driver isn't facing any charges at the moment? last i heard the consealment of a corpse was a crime.only in cali would they be that effed up with the law.

technically I guess she wasn't concealing it.
it was in the passenger seat, not the trunk.

still really messed up though!!

so was the driver able to use the carpool lane whenever they pleased? and i will agree it is truely disturbing and messed up.

Reckon she needed someone to talk too?

I don't think it would be an offense here based on the minimal facts there. As long as she did not do anything to the dead body (Abuse of Corpse).

Talk about a designated driver.

OK, this is crazier than hell but wouldn;t the corpse just starting stinking to high hell and someone woulda smelled this thing reeking from a mile away?

Batmandk02 wrote:

OK, this is crazier than hell but wouldn;t the corpse just starting stinking to high hell and someone woulda smelled this thing reeking from a mile away?

You would think so, wouldn't you.

Very very weird.

How could a erson stand top drive around with a rotting. oozing dead body next to you? All maggoty and stuff. I wonder if the build up of heat and pressure inside the car made the dead body's eyeballs pop?

OMFG is this just strange.

Did this lady watch Weekend at Bernies too many times or what?

thatjimboguy wrote:

OMFG is this just strange.

Did this lady watch Weekend at Bernies too many times or what?

probably couldnt understand why her passenger didnt get up and move around to salsa music like Bernie did in #2

LOL..now THAT would have been hysterical.

That's some jacked up ish right there!

LOL Blay..what decade is it again?

Err...I originally brought that up didn't I?

Oops...nevermind.