The Cincinnati Post
For more than two years, Johannas Pope’s friend and caretaker kept the 61-year-old’s dead body in an easy chair in the upstairs room of her Madisonville home.
The 42-year-old friend, who lived with Pope and cared for her before she died in August 2003, constantly ran a window air conditioner unit, covered heating vents in the winter and used bug spray to ward off maggots and flies as the body eventually mummified.
And she did all of it as Pope’s granddaughter - born roughly three months after her grandmother’s death - grew up downstairs.
The caretaker, identified in a call to police about the body as Cathy Painter, appeared to be motivated by a genuine belief that Pope would come back to life, Owens said.
When she was dying, Pope, who suffered from lupus and had rejected medical care for about 10 years, told Painter, “Don’t show my body when I’m dead. Don’t bury me. I am coming back,” Owens said.
Painter’s delusion was reinforced by the belief that Pope’s nose and ears had decayed and then regenerated - an illusion that insect infestation can sometimes cause in dead bodies, Owens said
In addition to Painter, Pope’s 36-year-old daughter, Lisa Pope, and Lisa’s daughter, born in November 2003, also lived in the home.
Painter cared for the corpse, keeping it cool and checking on it at least once a day during the nearly 2½ years.
“That probably helped keep the smell down,” Owens said of the air conditioning. “It allowed the body to slowly decay and mummify…which means it was like leather.”
