Wisconsin Family Lives With Corpse Of 90-Year-Old Woman For Two Months

Neceda, WI (AHN) -- A mother is in jail and her two children are in state custody after police discovered they'd been living with the corpse of a 90-year-old woman who was left on the toilet for over two months.

The mother, 35-year-old Tammy D. Lewis, said she was helping the old woman, Magdalene Alvina Middlesworth put her underwear on when the woman passed out. Reportedly she was still breathing, but instead of calling 911, Lewis opted to call her spiritual advisor, Alan A. Bushey, 57.

According to Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel, Bushey said to leave Middlesworth on the toilet and pray for her to wake up. The mother and children prayed for four days, and when nothing changed, they left her on the only toilet in the house.

Lewis and Bushey are self-proclaimed religious leaders, she calls herself a "Sister" and he refers to himself as a "Bishop." They were part of the religious sect called Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine. According to the Journal Sentinel, believers of this faith are "dwindling" in the town where the religion was founded when a farm wife and mother of eight said she saw visions of the Virgin Mary. Since then, the group has placed much faith in miracles.

The children, a boy and a girl, 15 and 12, were not enrolled in public school, but may have attended the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace School, founded in 1982.

According to reports, the children were told that the rotting corpse looked the way it did because Bushey said it was "the result of demons attempting to make it appear that Alvina would not come back to life."

It is not yet clear whether there was any relation between Middlesworth and the Lewis family, who had been living in the house together for an estimated year or two, according to neighbors.

Lewis and Bushey are being held in jail, charged with two counts of causing mental harm to a child, and party to a crime. Authorities say it's possible Middlesworth died of natural causes.

An investigation is still pending. Authorities found the corpse on Friday.