Police say a man who died last month in Jackson, Calif., is suspected of leaving his father’s body at their home to keep access to his money. Randall Freer, 63, died as he was leaving a business in the Sierra Nevadas foothills, according to Lt. Greg Stark of the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s deputy then went to alert the man’s family at a home in Wallace, California, where he heard a fan running and saw a dead man sitting on a recliner. Evidence at the scene suggested the body had been there for several years, according to Lt. Stark. “It’s severely decomposed with some skeletal remains,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “In 28 years of law enforcement, this type of investigation is extremely rare. We don’t usually find someone who’s been dead that long inside a residence.” Calaveras County Coroner Kevin Raggio identified the man inside the home as Ada Clinton Freer, 91, father of Randall Freer. Officials say there were no signs of foul play and they expect he died of natural causes. Investigators say Ada Freer last signed a check in 2016, but that his son was collecting money from the account until his death. “The son assumed the identity of the dad and I suspect he was probably living with his father and living off his father,” Mr Raggio said. “When his father died, he discovered him and let him sit in the chair of the house and continued to use his money for his own purposes. To use the money, she couldn’t say Dad died, so she collected Social Security and a pension. “It had been so long that everything had dried up. It was there for years and years and years. If the son was still alive, the guy would still be sitting there, basically.”
