Mother Keeps Corpse On The Toilet...

[FSTargetDrone]

...for two months. Worst of all, she had 2 minor children in the house:

2 hours, 8 minutes ago

MADISON, Wis. - Two children and their mother lived for about two months with the decaying body of a 90-year-old woman on the toilet of their home's only bathroom, on the advice of a religious "superior" who claimed the corpse would come back to life, authorities said Friday.

The children — a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy — cried hysterically Wednesday after a deputy who came to their Necedah home looking for Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth ordered them out because of the stench from her body.

The children were in foster care Friday. Their mother, Tammy Lewis, and self-described "bishop" Alan Bushey remained in custody on felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child.

"It's a sad case, and we'll continue to investigate it and try to ascertain just what occurred up there," Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson said. He said he had no further information on Bushey's religious affiliation.

According to the criminal complaint, Middlesworth's sister called sheriff's officials Wednesday and asked them to go to the home about 80 miles north of Madison to check on the woman, who had not been heard from for some time.

When Deputy Leigh Neville-Neil arrived at the house, she encountered Lewis, also known as Sister Mary Bernadett, the complaint said. Lewis, 35, initially refused to allow the deputy to check on Middlesworth, telling her that Middlesworth was on vacation and saying she had to check with her "superior" first.

But she eventually let the deputy in. The house smelled of incense and burned wood, and had religious materials everywhere and hymns playing on the stereo, according to the complaint.

When the deputy opened the last closed door, she smelled "decaying matter" and noticed something piled on what appeared to be a toilet. Lewis told her it was Middlesworth's body, the complaint said.

Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had died about two months earlier, but that God told her Middlesworth would come to life if she prayed hard enough.

She said she couldn't say anything more until she spoke with her "superior" — Bushey, 57, also known as Bishop John Peter Bushey.

When Bushey (pronounced "boo-SHAY") arrived, Lewis told the deputy that Middlesworth had appeared to pass out as Lewis helped her into her underwear.

She said she propped Middlesworth on the toilet and left the room to call Bushey, who told her to leave the woman alone and pray for her, the complaint said. He said he had received signs that God would raise her from the dead with a miracle.

Lewis went on to say she thought Middlesworth was still breathing when she put her on the toilet and called Bushey, instead of an ambulance. She later told a detective she put the woman on the toilet on March 4.

An autopsy has been performed, but results won't be available for some time, Oleson said.

"At this time we don't know what the cause of death was," he said. "Quite frankly, it might have been natural causes."

He described the one-story home in the town of Necedah as in decent repair, although the residents had been using "makeshift" toilet facilities because of the situation in the one bathroom.

The boy at the house told a detective he had considered running away because he was uncomfortable with the situation. He said Bushey told him that demons were trying to make it look as if Middlesworth wouldn't come back to life, and that if she were to be discovered he and the girl would have to go to public school and get jobs because Middlesworth paid the bills.

The boy referred to Middlesworth as "grandmother," the complaint said.

Oleson said Middlesworth was unrelated to Bushey.

"She believed in the same faith as self-proclaimed Bishop Bushey, and that was the connection there," he said.

Oleson said that Middlesworth and Lewis lived at the residence with the children since fall of 2004, and that Bushey lived elsewhere.

Bushey and Lewis are scheduled to make an initial court appearance May 19. Aside from the felony counts, Lewis also was charged with obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor.

The sheriff said cash bond was set Friday at $50,000 each, but Lewis was allowed to post 10 percent for her release.

Computerized state court records had no attorney listed for either suspect on Friday.

Sounds like mother has some deep psychological issues. I can't imagine what kind horror that must have been for those two kids with that body rotting away in the bathroom and the mother out of her mind with this nuttery.

[Patrick Degan]

Just when you think you've already heard the ultimate in religious nuttery, there's always something which comes along and makes you say "fuck".

[weemadando]

Wow. Wisconsin even.

This is just shocking. I mean, when it happened in India (where it was the swami claiming he'd come back to life, and the police going: "once he starts smelling, the followers will no doubt disperse") it was bad enough.

But obviously these people led insular fucking lives because for two months they never had a house guest? One who wasn't put off by the corpse in the toilet or the fucking smell?

What is it with fucked up news stories in the past month?

[FSTargetDrone]

But obviously these people led insular fucking lives because for two months they never had a house guest? One who wasn't put off by the corpse in the toilet or the fucking smell?

She must have been using a hell of a lot of incense.

The threat that the children "would have to go to public school and get jobs" makes me think there was some home-schooling going on (as the case may be).

You know, when I read the part about "something piled on what appeared to be a toilet," I pictured that part in Silence of the Lambs when Starling finds the corpse sitting in that crusty nightmare of a bathtub down in Gumb's basement.

[KlavoHunter]

Can we deport all these religiously-inclined idiots out of our state, and send them somewhere they'll have more like-minded company, like the South?

Seriously, sometimes I wonder if anyplace outside of the cities in this state is worthwhile.

[JME2]

Just when you think you've already heard the ultimate in religious nuttery, there's always something which comes along and makes you say "fuck".

"Fuck" indeed; dear god...

[FSTargetDrone]

Can we deport all these religiously-inclined idiots out of our state, and send them somewhere they'll have more like-minded company, like the South?

I fear there is only one solution. Fire, and lots of it.

[Havok]

Wow. I have to second "what's up with all the fucked up news stories". So, can we just cut all the "religions" crap and just say the people that believe in God are just Zombiests?

[Oskuro]

I fear there is only one solution. Fire, and lots of it.

...that's your solution to everything.

[Molyneux]

I fear there is only one solution. Fire, and lots of it.

...that's your solution to everything.

Well, it IS the solution to everything!
I can only hope that there's some way to counteract at least some of the mental damage given those kids to date.

[FA Xerrik]

I can't believe they're trying to pass this off as happening in Madison. Necedah is nowhere near Madison. I was shocked when the front of the article read Madison, Wis. Of course, when you're actually 80 miles north I hardly think that counts as within the city limits. I frankly can't say I'm that surprised something like this happened up in the boonie parts of the state. Once you get out of the South-Central part of the state, people just get strange.

[The Vortex Empire]

And people think it's perfectly sane to "hear God speaking to you". Yeah. Right.

[Simplicius]

I can't believe they're trying to pass this off as happening in Madison. Necedah is nowhere near Madison. I was shocked when the front of the article read Madison, Wis. Of course, when you're actually 80 miles north I hardly think that counts as within the city limits. I frankly can't say I'm that surprised something like this happened up in the boonie parts of the state. Once you get out of the South-Central part of the state, people just get strange.

Not that I have any real experience with journalism, but I think that the location at the beginning of the article is the location from which the report was filed, not the location where the events in the report occurred.