Burglary suspects lived in Georgia house with victim’s mummified bodies: police

A group of seven burglars have been accused of ransacking the victim’s Georgia home while his mummified body was still inside.

Cobb County police visited a home in Smyrna, Georgia, in early October for a welfare check, but instead found Robert Westbrook, the 71-year-old homeowner and lone resident, dead in the bathtub. – WANF reported.

“He was in a state of severe decomposition. It’s called mummification,” Detective Daniel Goduto told WANF.

Detectives said Westbrook died of natural causes and his body remained in the bathtub for about three months. However, they also found evidence that someone else had lived in the house during these months. Westbrook’s body was lying in the bathtub.

“(The house) was ransacked. The drawers fell over. His master bedroom was just unkempt,” Goduto told a local outlet.

“But there were items there that indicated someone was still living there. The garbage looked like it was picked up regularly. It looked like there were brand new things in the trash,” he added.

The day after the wellness check, police received a call from Westbrook’s neighbor who knew he had died, claiming he had seen people on his property. Officers went to check the house again and found four suspects who had loaded pieces of Westbrook’s property into a vehicle and were ready to flee with the deceased’s belongings – including money, electronic equipment and even a car.

“They had the victim’s credit cards. They had checks from him,” Goduto said.

Police were able to recover Westbrook’s stolen car at a nearby gas station – along with the other three suspects, who fled in the vehicle.

“They made purchases at a gas station. They played his money on slot machines at a gas station.

According to the detective, all seven suspects knew each other and several had prior criminal histories in Cobb County.

“It shows their moral compass, if you will,” Goduto said.

– I mean, they broke into someone’s house. They saw him dead on the ground and instead of saying, “Hey, we screwed up.” Let’s call 911. We found this guy dead. They decided to just live there.

Unsuspecting neighbors were disturbed by the death of the neighbor and the tenants who had made themselves at home in the house.

“I had no idea something like this happened,” neighbor Sophia Da Silva told WANF.

“I had no idea he was dead. I had no idea it had been robbed. It was quite shocking.”

The exterior of Westbrook’s home was obscured by overgrown vegetation, which police said made the residence an easy target because it appeared abandoned.

“I think they thought it was an empty house,” Goduto said.

“If you know you have an elderly neighbor, check on them. If you see that their house is overgrown, check what is happening,” he appealed to the public.