FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. (KMOX) - An Illinois woman is accused of hiding the death of her mother for more than a year as she continued to collect benefits with the decomposing body still inside her home.
The Fairview Heights Police Department says officers responded to the home on Oxford Avenue on Monday after neighbors requested a wellness check. Reena Hayashi, 48, answered the door and told officers her mother – 80-year-old Karen Hayashi – had flown to Hawaii. When officers went checked again at the urging of neighbors, an officer smelled an odor and Reena Hayashi admitted to concealing her mother's body, according to Fox 2.
Police say she told them her mom died in January of 2020 and she was masking the smell with air fresheners. Her cause of death was not immediately known.
Hayashi is charged in St. Clair County Circuit Court with two counts of concealing a death and one count of obstructing justice. Her bail was set at $60,000.
She allegedly continued to file Karen Hayashi’s taxes and accept her financial benefits and assistance after her mom's death.
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