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Hey Mom, What's For Dinner?

Partial view of Social Security card, US Treasury checks and hundred dollar bills. Finance and retirement concept.
Senior Director of Strategic Alliances
LexisNexis Risk Solutions - Government

No family is perfect. Families argue, they fight, they even stop talking to each other. Such as Sabrina Watson and her mom, Eva Bratcher. Watson knew something was the matter with her grandmother, Regina Michalski. For ten years, Bratcher had blocked Watson’s phone number and anytime Watson came to Chicago and tried to visit her grandmother, no one would answer the door. So, Watson called in a well-being check.

Police found Regina Michalski. Or rather, they found her remains in a deep freezer kept in the cellar of the two-story apartment building in Chicago, that she had shared with her daughter Eva Bratcher. Within hours of Michalski’s body being discovered, Bratcher was arrested for concealing the death of her mother. The alleged evidence found to put two and two together? Police found a receipt in the house that showed Bratcher purchased a freezer about two years ago, the same time that Michalski’s autopsy showed she died.

Police also recovered proof of a fraudulent ID card with Michalski’s name and Bratchers photo on it. Prosecutors said police are still investigating whether Bratcher collected her mother’s social security checks or other benefits after her mother died. But really?

Watson, the granddaughter, doesn’t need proof of benefit fraud. “There’s basically nothing my mother wouldn’t do for money and if that means putting a body in a freezer, she will put a body in a freezer,” Watson said.” Estranged for years, Watson at one point took a drastic step to warn people about dealing with her mother. She created a Facebook page to alert “anyone that knows Eva Bratcher, that she is a DANGEROUS CRIMINAL!”. And maybe someone who uses a freezer for more than frozen meals.

Bratcher is expected back in court Feb. 21.

Shout out to Sabrina Watson for following your intuition and calling in the wellness check.

Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on an article “US Woman Charged For Hiding Mother’s Body In Freezer For Nearly 2 Years” published by CBS News on February 4, 2023

In order to get her social security benefits, a Chicago woman kept her 96-year-old mother’s remains hidden in a freezer for over two years. In a shocking incident, an American woman has been charged with keeping her mother’s body in a freezer for the last two years, according to a report by Mirror News.

The news portal further reported that “Eva Bratcher appeared in court yesterday after being charged with hiding her 96-year-old mother’s death and having a fake identification card.”

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