A California woman has been charged with murder after police found the body of a 59-year-old man with cerebral palsy she was supposedly caring for.
Richard McClintic’s family had been unable to reach him for more than month, KCRA reported, and Christina Cowens had refused to let them into his apartment after they began receiving messages from McClintic’s Facebook account they described as unusual.
The family sent police to conduct a welfare check on October 25, but they did not find him in the apartment at that time. Two weeks later, they returned with a search warrant and found his body.
Cowens, 41, has been charged with murder, making fraudulent claims to an officer, unlawful disposal of human remains, grand theft, and attempt to conceal a death.
Her attorney requested a continuation on Monday, and she was ordered to return to court on November 24.
“To know that someone is capable of doing this to a disabled person in my uncle’s condition is just outrageous,” said Ryan Klagenberg, McClintic’s nephew.
Klagenberg said that Cowens had been his uncle’s caretaker for years, KOVR reported, but in July, he posted on Facebook that he was seeking a new caretaker.
It was around that time that Cowens was arraigned on embezzlement charges, KCRA reported, but it’s not clear if that case had anything to do with McClintic.
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[Featured image: Richard McClintic/Facebook]
