Homepage / Phoenix News
E-Mail News Alerts
Get breaking news and daily headlines.
Browse all e-mail newsletters
Related To Story

Mummy Found In Renter's Bathtub

POSTED: 12:58 pm MST February 11, 2008
UPDATED: 6:22 pm MST February 11, 2008

A years-old mummified body has been found in a cottage bathtub beneath layers of wood, plastic, dirt and sand, Phoenix police said.

The owners of several cottages said they grew suspicious after the renter stopped sending monthly checks, officers said.

The landlords entered the property on Friday and found trash stacked from floor to ceiling, said Sgt. Joel Tranter of the Phoenix Police Department.

Once they reached the bathroom, they discovered the bathtub was covered with plywood and plastic, Tranter said. Underneath the material, they found layers of dirt and sand, Tranter said.

As the owners began removing the dirt, they saw a human leg and ran to call police, according to Tranter.

Homicide investigators said they are labeling the incident as a "death unknown."

The entire bathtub was extracted with the mummified body and dirt in tact and transported to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for examination, Tranter said.

Tranter said preliminary information indicated that the person buried in the tub had been dead for a number of years.

Investigators said they have identified the most recent resident on the cottage and are currently following-up on leads, Tranter said. The person's identity is currently being withheld.

The property owners said they rented the cottage to a man in 1995. They said they had received regular rent payments from 1995 through the summer of 2007 when the rent payments stopped.

The landlords said they briefly visited the property last summer and believed that the unit was abandoned.

SLIDESHOW: Blackwell's Worst-Dressed List Of '07 SLIDESHOW: Celebrities Commit Fashion Faux Pas SLIDESHOW: How Well Do You Know Your Celebrities? SLIDESHOW: Red-Hot Redheaded Celebrity Women SLIDESHOW: Biggest, Baddest Fast-Food Burgers SLIDESHOW: Celebrities Commit Fashion Faux Pas SLIDESHOW: EW's Smartest People In Hollywood

  • ELSEWHERE ON KPHO.COM: A local store clerk was killed Sunday night as the result of a single gunshot wound. CLICK HERE for details.
  • MORE SLIDESHOWS: From the bizarre to the tragic to late-breaking news, visit the KPHO.com slideshow section and click away! CLICK HERE for images.

  • Sponsored Links

    Links We Like
    Sponsored Content
    Learn the top five signs of common mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder. More

    To get the most out of your remodel, check out these 10 home updates that have the biggest payoffs when it comes time to sell your home. More

    Find out what a sputtering economy and an increasingly difficult to crack job market means to you. More

    Curious about what homes near you are in foreclosure? Want to be notified when a home enters foreclosure? Get all of that and more here. More