A woman from north Forsyth has been arrested by local authorities on alleged elder abuse charges after the decomposing body of her 83-year-old mother was found at her residence on Thursday, officials said.
According to Cpl. Doug Rainwater, spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a home off Bridle Drive in Cumming at 7 a.m., to a call about a female subject that had threatened suicide to a friend out of state.
At the residence, Rainwater said that deputies met with the subject, Amalia Elvira Ramirez, 53, of Forsyth County and transported her by ambulance to Northside Hospital Forsyth to be evaluated.
He said that shortly after, deputies found the body of her mother in a bedroom of the residence.
"As soon as we walked in, the stench of a dead person ... was so obvious in the home; we immediately went to where the smell was and found the body of the mother in bed," Rainwater said.
Rainwater said that they quickly learned that the body was in the advanced stages of decomposition based on its condition and was likely there for days, if not weeks.
After Ramirez was cleared by the hospital, Rainwater said that detectives learned she had been living in the residence and was her mother's primary caretaker for the last four years.
From their interview, detectives discovered that Ramirez had continued living in the home as the body decomposed, he said.
Based on the conditions of the home and the body, the sheriff’s office secured warrants for Ramirez’s arrest, Rainwater said.
"We could tell, based on the body's sores, that this 83-year-old had not been taken care of," he said.
Ramirez has been charged with felony cruelty to a person 65 years or older and exploitation/intimidation of the disabled/elderly. But Rainwater said that additional, more serious charges could be pending against Ramirez based on the outcome of the autopsy and the final investigative report from their detectives.
This incident is being investigated by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office’s Major Crimes Unit and an autopsy of the body is being completed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Ramirez is being held in the Forsyth County Jail under no bond.