/ 20 May 2005

Man sleeps next to dead wife for a year

A husband told police he slept in the same bed with the body of his wife for a year after she died — because he ”did not want to part with her” even after death.

Frankfurt police on Friday said the man said his wife had sent him out on a shopping errand last May and that he returned to find her dead. Saying he was helpless without her to tell him what to do, he placed her body on the bed and never thought to mention her passing to anyone else.

A chance enquiry by an acquaintance resulted in notification of the police.

”I wanted to be with her until I keel over myself,” the 67-year-old man told investigators after discovery of the 57-year-old woman’s remains under a blanket in bed.

An autopsy showed death by natural causes. The man was placed in a shelter for homeless men pending further investigation. — Sapa-DPA