A couple in Girona, north-eastern Spain lived, ate and slept next to the rotting corpse of their seven-year-old son who suffered from asthma for two months because they refused to accept he was dead.
Bruce and Schrell Hopkins were arrested by the Catalan Mossos d’Esquadra after officers entered their rented home in Girona using a key given to them by the landlady.
The US consulate in Barcelona had been contacted by Mr Hopkins’ employers about an extended absence from work and had contacted police. The landlady was reportedly concerned that the family had not paid their rent for several months.
Police said they were struck by the mess on the ground floor and a stench coming from upstairs when they entered. When they went to investigate the smell, they found a spacious room with mattresses around a central bed. On the bed was a ‘lump curled up in a blanket’.
Police pulled the cover off to find the decomposing body of a child. Marks on the bed suggested someone had been sleeping next to the body.
“The parents of the youngster found dead in Girona have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter,” a spokesman for Mossos d’Esquadra said. “The investigation to clarify the circumstances of the youngster’s death remains open.”
Prosecutor Enrique Barata said the pair had “lost their sense of reality” after their son’s death.
“They would live normal home life around the dead body. They couldn’t accept that the child was dead.” Barata said.
The exact time and cause of the boy’s death will not be confirmed until the results of a postmortem are released but he was last seen alive on 15 November when he attended a family birthday.
The couple – originally from Detroit in the US – have been charged with negligent homicide after a judge heard they did not take their son to hospital because they do not believe in conventional medicine.
But Mr Salvador said Mr Hopkins had tried to resuscitate his son with cardiac massage and mouth to mouth breathing.
They could be released once the cause of death is determined if it can be proved the child was dead when they found him.
The couple’s other children – a boy and a girl aged 12 and 14 – have been taken into state care.
Photo credit: Getty/AP
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Photos: Couple lived with the rotting corpse of their son for 2 months because they could'nt accept his death
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