CHICAGO — A Chicago woman has been charged with keeping her mother’s corpse in a freezer for almost two years while living in a nearby apartment.
Eva Bratcher, 69, appeared in court Thursday on charges of concealing the death of her 96-year-old mother and possessing a fraudulent identification card.
Regina Michalski’s body was discovered this week in a freezer in the garage near the apartment they had shared, police said. Investigators believe she died in March 2021. The cause will not be determined until her body is thawed.
The allegations are «very disturbing,» Judge David Kelly said as he set Bratcher’s $20,000 bond.
Kelly denied a defense attorney’s request for lower bail to get Bratcher out of jail.
She has prior convictions for forgery, and investigators said they were trying to determine if Bratcher was collecting her late mother’s Social Security benefits. reported the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bratcher’s daughter, who lives in Kentucky, asked police to search the house after losing contact with her grandmother.
«What can go wrong? Everything, apparently,» said Sabrina Watson.