ALIQUIPPA, Pa. — A man was charged with abuse of a corpse after officers found a body in a garbage bag under his bed in Hopewell Township, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Channel 11 News Monday.
The complaint said someone called police, saying a decomposing body was in Donald Teaford’s apartment on Mill Street. Authorities obtained a search warrant for the apartment after discovering two windows open with a “heavy smell of perfume” emitting from the inside and numerous garbage bags outside the rental, according to the complaint.
Officers searching the apartment pulled up the bedspread on Teaford’s bed and found a garbage bag with a boot hanging out. Upon further inspection, a man’s body was found wrapped in garbage bags with a knife next to it, the complaint said. DVD players and a purse were used to cover the body from plain view, the police paperwork stated.
The person who tipped off police claimed the body was there for three weeks and that Teaford had been sleeping on the bed with the body underneath it, according to the complaint. Teaford also took heroin with the victim, according to the tipster.
According to the criminal complaint, officers determined Teaford had to lift the bed frame, box spring and mattress prior to laying the body on the floor.
The criminal complaint further stated that Teaford’s girlfriend died of a drug overdose in the very same bed that officers found the body under.
Authorities wrote in the complaint that Teaford is known to many in the area because he panhandles, claiming he is a homeless veteran.
Teaford was arrested Friday and taken to jail. His bail was set at $100,000
The victim’s official cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology tests, the Beaver County district attorney told Channel 11 News. He also identified the victim as Justin Cogan, 34.