14 DAY TRIAL // As horrible as this may sound, the Belgian woman was so affected by her husband's death that she could not part with the corpse and decided to keep sleeping next to it while it decomposed. The woman, whose identity was not revealed, was too attached to be troubled by the smell of human decay.
Marcel H., 79 years old, died in Brussels last year because of an asthma attack, but his body remained undiscovered in his apartment bed until now. The grieving widow could not part with her husband’s remains and decided not to report his death, keeping the decomposing body at home.
Not only did she keep the corpse inside her home, but she slept in bed with it for almost one year as if her husband were still alive. The woman's neighbors didn't complain about any unusual smells, but the land lord began to be suspicious after the couple stopped paying rent.
When the authorities entered the apartment, they had a shock seeing the corpse mummified on the bed. Philippe Boxho, pathologist at the Forensic Center of Liege said that corpses can mummify in dry, warm environments, like the couple's apartment, according to The Huffington Post. Also, he added “it takes at least a week to reach such a state. In this case the body rotten in bed and his internal organs had melted and liquefied.”
The liquid that a decomposing corpse leaves has a specific odor, but after it rottens, it slowly decreases. Also, the smell of human decay can be easily associated with garbage, so no wonder the neighbors didn't report anything.
Even if it seems like a story from a dark and twisted horror movie, other cases like this have been reported in the past, but mainly because the spouse was collecting Social Security checks on behalf of the husband or wife.