Dead in bathroom fo 2 months

**Shoestring** · 05-09-08, 10:52 PM

NECEDAH TOWNSHIP, Wis. -- A Juneau County deputy asked to check on an elderly woman found her decaying body in the bathroom of a house inhabited by three others.

Authorities said they believe Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth, 90, had been dead for at least two months when she was found Wednesday on a toilet in a house she shared with a woman and two children.

The woman's family had asked deputies to check on her, saying she hadn't made contact in months.

The sheriff's office said Friday that three people live at the Necedah Township home in south central Wisconsin -- Tammy Lewis, 35, a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.

Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth charged Lewis and Alan Bushey, 57, with two felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child. Lewis was also charged with obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor.

The children had been placed in foster care and both adults remain in custody.

Southworth said that more charges could be filed. He said the two adults are self-proclaimed leaders of their own religious order. Southworth described it as a cult.

In the criminal complaint, Lewis is also known as Sister Mary Bernadett and Bushey is referred to as Bishop John Peter Bushey.

According to the complaint, Lewis told the deputy she was "helping Alvina put on an undergarment when Alvina passed out in her arms." Lewis said that instead of calling an ambulance, she called Bushey, according to the complaint.

The criminal complaint said Bushey told Lewis to leave the body in the bathroom because he received signs that God would raise the woman from the dead if Lewis prayed hard enough.

Southworth said authorities are investigating whether the two suspects were trying to cash the dead woman's Social Security checks and an annuity she owned.

Southworth said that the adults have not yet been charged with hiding a corpse because it must be in connection with another crime.

The district attorney said he is investigating fraud charges and expects more charges to be filed next week.

According to the criminal complaint, Lewis' children, a 12- and 15-year-old, said they referred to Alvina as "grandmother." The 15-year-old told the deputy that Alvina was the "provider for their religious community" and that without her, "they would all need to get jobs and the children would need to go to public school," according to the complaint.

Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson said an autopsy has been done but results won't be available for some time, so the cause of death isn't yet known.

The sheriff said the one-story home in the town of Necedah is in decent repair, although the residents were using "makeshift" toilet facilities because of the situation in the one bathroom.

He said it's a sad case that his office will continue to investigate to figure out what happened.

http://www.channel3000.com/news/16216795/detail.html