Local authorities in Northeast Ohio accused two women of driving a dead man to his bank and using him to steal money from his account before dropping his body at a hospital Monday, according to multiple reports.
Karen Casbohm and Loreen Bea Feralo allegedly drove the deceased 80-year-old Douglas Layman to his bank to withdraw money from his account and then allegedly dumped his body at the emergency room of the Ashtabula County Medical Center (ACMC), according to Ashtabula County authorities, Star Beacon reported. Layman’s bank allegedly permitted the women to withdraw money in the past as long as Layman was present in past incidents, Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell stated, according to the outlet.
“The allegation is that he was propped up in the front seat of the car and taken through the drive-through so that the bank would see him in the vehicle and then they’d be able to make the withdrawal,” Stell told FOX 8 News, according to the outlet’s video report.
Casbohm and Feralo allegedly withdrew approximately $900, Ashtabula County Prosecuting Attorney Cecilia Cooper said, according to FOX 8 News. They reportedly face felony charges of theft and gross abuse of a corpse, the attorney stated.
“They’re charged with gross abuse of a corpse for taking a person who was dead and acting in a manner that would shock the conscience,” Cooper told FOX 8 News. (RELATED: Woman Slept With Husband’s Mummified Corpse For Four Years And Performed Rituals With It, Police Say: REPORT)
Ashtabula police: 2 women charged after allegedly taking dead man to bank to withdraw money https://t.co/zUNKEzwHoj
— WKYC 3News (@wkyc) March 7, 2024
The women were reportedly not related to Layman but had been living with him and found him dead, police stated. They allegedly did not give the ACMC staff any information on the man when they brought him there, but one of them did by phone hours later, Cleveland 19 News reported. Officers then reportedly appeared at the home the women lived in, interviewed and charged them.
“This is truly sad, that this poor man, all he had — from what the evidence has shown so far — is these two [women],” Cooper told FOX 8 News.
Both Stell and Cooper reportedly described the alleged acts as unusual. “I have never heard of anything — other than fiction — that is like this,” Cooper told FOX 8 News.
In all of Stell’s 28 years in law enforcement, it was his first time encountering such a case, he said to the outlet.
The cause of Layman’s death was not yet released, Ashtabula County Coroner’s Office told FOX 8 News.
The investigation is reportedly ongoing and the women may face additional charges. The two women could spend as much as a year for each of the charges if convicted, the outlet reported.
The Daily Caller contacted Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell but did not hear back at the time of writing this report.