Man lives months with mom's corpse on couch

Kevin Robinson | Pensacola News-Journal

A Florida man is in jail after deputies discovered his mother's remains on his living room couch, according to a sheriff's office arrest report.

On May 13, a deputy was dispatched to a residence to check on the welfare of 81-year-old Joyce Willis. Willis' son, Michael Eugene Sticken, 60, had reportedly been rebuffing family members' attempts to call or visit his mother since January.

When the deputy arrived at the residence, he immediately noticed a foul odor. Upon entering the house, he found two couches pushed together with blankets piled on top. Under the blankets, the deputy found a female who was so badly decomposed as to be unrecognizable.

The medical examiner's office estimated that Willis had been dead for between one and four months at the time of her discovery. The office is working to determine her cause of death.

In an interview with deputies, Sticken said he had not been responsible for his mother's death, calling her "his best friend," the arrest report said.

By reviewing bank records, investigators found that Sticken had been making withdrawals from a joint bank account he shared with his mother. The only deposits made since January were Willis' monthly $1,400 social security payments, all of which had been withdrawn by Sticken.

Investigators found significant cause to charge Sticken with grand theft and failure to report a death. He was booked into Santa Rosa County Jail Thursday morning on $6,000 bond.