Some people will do anything to make a buck, and for two Ohio women, abuse of a corpse was not off the table.
Women charged with abuse of a corpse
In an extremely macabre incident of alleged fraud, two women from Ohio have been accused of using a deceased elderly man’s body to withdraw funds from his bank account.
Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, reportedly positioned 80-year-old Douglas Layman’s body in their car to steal his cash in low-rent version of “Weekend at Bernie’s.”
Their scam allowed them to withdraw approximately $900 from the bank, when they convinced a none-the-wiser teller to empty his account.
After making the cash grab, Casbohm and Feralo dumped Layman’s body at the entrance of the Ashtabula County Medical Center the same day.
“They left without providing any information to medical staff. They simply departed,” Police Chief Robert Stell told Fox News.
Initially, the identity of the deceased man was a mystery to the hospital, but one suspects called hours later to give staffers his name.
That call was what led authorities were led to Layman’s residence, where Casbohm and Feralo were found.
The pair, who were reportedly occupants of Layman’s home but not family, claimed that he had passed away at their residence just hours before.
Layman’s stepson, James Hubbard, said he doesn’t “understand” what the women were thinking at the time of the crime, or “how that money meant that much to them.”
“I couldn’t do that to an animal,” he remarked.
Hubbard said that Casbohm had been Layman’s girlfriend for the last few years, and despite dealing with her repeated drug use and stealing, the 80-year-old was “in a position that he didn’t want to live alone.”
Girlfriend resorts for abuse of a corpse to steal cash
During the investigation, police found out that rather than alerting 911 at the time of his death, which remains undetermined, the two boarders opted for the bank run to empty his accounts.
They reportedly were able to wrestle his body into the passenger seat of the car with the help of a third person, who police have yet to identify.
The plan clearly worked, but the paltry $900 won’t be worth the amount of legal trouble the two suspects are facing.
Two days later, Casbohm and Feralo were each arrested and charged with felonies for gross abuse of a corpse and theft.
Each felony carries a prison sentence of up to a year behind bars.
In fact, the money they stole won’t even cover Casbohm’s $5,000 bond. Feralo is also still behind bars as she waits for her initial court appearance on Thursday to determine her bail amount.
Now that the police are involved, Stell said that more charges could come down the line, as they continue to investigate the two women.
The due diligence is likely necessary, as while the case is “very unusual,” Casbohm and Feralo are certainly not first time offenders.
They both have an extensive history of criminal conduct, with Casbohm having prior convictions for drug-related offenses, solicitation, theft, and criminal trespass, amongst others.
Feralo’s record is speckled with an array of convictions for reckless assault, theft, criminal trespass, and a DUI, in addition to other charges.
