Son Whose Mother Was Described as a ‘Rotting Corpse’ Going to Jail

INDEPENDENCE, Mo.  — A Jackson County man is going to spend time in jail for his mother’s death, but it’s not as much time as prosecutors first wanted.

Horrible Conditions Paramedics Found

The manslaughter charge against James Owens, 53, was dropped after testimony that Carol Brown, 75, refused medical care just a few days before her death.

“This testimony prevented the state from proving that the defendant was responsible for her death by failing to provide adequate medical care,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said. “This testimony was only recently discovered by prosecutors.”

Brown was found stuck to her chair in October of last year. A fire captain described her as “a rotting corpse that was still breathing.”

She was taken to the hospital but died from her wounds. Court documents reveal she was sitting in her own bodily fluids and waste and had maggots inside an ankle wound.

Owens pleaded guilty to felony forgery and elder abuse in the 3rd degree, which is a misdemeanor. Owens forged his mother’s name and cashed a $741 Social Security check issued to his mother three days after she died. He will serve one year in the Jackson County jail.