Town of Peshtigo Woman Charged for Hiding Corpse of Mother
PESHTIGO, Wis. – A Wisconsin woman has had her mother’s corpse hidden in her basement for over four months.
60-year-old Paula Bergold is facing charges of Hiding a Corpse, Obstructing an Officer and Failure to Report Death.
Paula had reportedly placed the body of her mother, Ruby Bergold, in a tub located in her basement. According to the charges which took place Sept. 23, Paula had been receiving and cashing her mother’s social security checks.
One of the neighbors had noticed that there had not been any sign of Ruby for a while. Along with that, the neighbors also noticed that Paula had been “evasive to where Ruby might be”. Subsequently, the police had been called.
When police arrived at Ruby’s house on Sept. 13, they noticed a sign on the door which read, “Ruby has gone out of town to visit some friends of ours.”
Paula had answered the door and let the cops in right away without question. While inside, the police were not able to specifically locate where Ruby was, however, there were a few things that made them suspicious. They had found a box of borax inside along with a multitude of moth balls to hide the stench of decay which was quite prevalent. The police had also noticed a few pieces of unopened mail.
The police had returned to the house a few days later and Paula admitted to them that her mother was located inside a tub down in the basement. She had also admitted to living off of Ruby’s social security checks and investments. Paula allegedly notified police of the concern she had for the money and that is why she decided not to report her mother’s death.
Jordan Baierl @ October 8, 2019