Cops: Woman, son went out for pizza as relative died

Pizza deemed more important than elderly woman's life. Photo: Ian Britton via FreeFoto

Police in Madison, Wisconsin, say a woman and her son went out for pizza as a relative died in their home.

According to a criminal complaint, Veronica King, 71, and her son Steven King, 45, left Veronica’s sister Mary Coleman, 70, after Coleman had fallen down in the bedroom of King’s home.

Officials say that Veronica and Steven “decided there was nothing they could do” to help Coleman, so they left the home and went out to eat, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

After Coleman died, the pair allegedly hid Coleman’s body in the home’s basement, and took cash and wrote checks from Coleman’s bank account.

Prosecutors say Veronica King told police that she and her son “had other things to do” the day Coleman died, which is why they never reported it.

Veronica and Steven King are both being charged with first degree reckless homicide, bank fraud, hiding a corpse and recklessly subjecting an individual at risk to abuse.

The complaint states that Coleman’s body was discovered months after her death when Veronica’s guardian, Connie Downing, called police after learning nobody had seen Coleman. Upon investigating, police found Coleman’s mummified body wrapped in plastic in the garage.

Coleman’s doctor, Robert Olson, said that Coleman had previously suffered a stroke and had likely had a repeat occurrence which rendered her unable to get up after the fall, and likely would have “survived and recovered” if only “she received medical care.”