Crime & Safety

Grandma Kept in Storage Locker 17 Years, Police Say

A family kept their dead grandmother's embalmed body in a makeshift coffin in a locker at the U-Stor storage facility on Lakeview Road since 1995.

The bluish coffin-like container sat there since 1995.

Inside it a family kept the embalmed body of their grandmother.

It all was found in a storage locker at the on Lakeview Road Thursday afternoon.

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The family was behind on rent for the unit that they have owned since 1985, so facility managers called to let them know it would be put up for auction, according to investigators.

That's when the granddaughter let them know "they can't sell my stuff at auction my grandmother is in there," said Joelle Castelli, police spokeswoman.

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The skeletal remains were embalmed and taken care of, the body just was not properly disposed of, which is a crime, Castelli said. However, officials are not sure if they will charge anyone since the woman who put her mother in the storage unit is also dead.

The granddaughter said her mother, on her deathbed, told her that her grandmother was kept in the unit, which is not climate controlled.

The family also owned two other units at the storage facility which investigators are still searching.

The body will be taken to A Life Tribute, Castelli said.


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