Inset: Valerie Bonner (Baldwin County Jail). Background: The apartment complex where authorities say two men died in the last six months (WALA).
A 54-year-old woman from Alabama has been arrested after she allegedly left a dead man decomposing in the bedroom of her apartment for as long as two weeks without notifying authorities — the second time in six months that someone has died in the home.
Valerie A. Bonner was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count of felony abuse of a corpse and one count of tampering with physical evidence, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Officers with the Foley Police Department responded to the Alison Pointe Apartments at 10:50 a.m. on Tuesday after receiving a request for a welfare check from a neighbor, Birmingham ABC affiliate WBMA reported. Upon arriving at the scene, police said they located the body of an adult male who appeared to have been deceased for some time.
Police have identified the deceased man, who they believe died of an overdose, but have not released his identity as of Thursday afternoon, Mobile CBS affiliate WKRG reported. Bonner allegedly knew the man had died in her bedroom, but did not report the death in an attempt to avoid any possible legal problems.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
“She said the deceased died from a possible overdose and she didn”t want us to know because she felt like she was going to get in trouble,” Foley Police Lt. Tony Fuqua said during Bonner’s first court appearance, per WKRG. “She knew that this person was dead in her apartment, had been dead for days, and she failed to notify us of the death, and she allowed that body to lay there and decompose over time.”
The refusal to notify authorities about the man’s death led to the abuse of a corpse charge and is also alleged to have taken additional steps to hinder law enforcement. She is accused of taking the victim’s wallet and cellphone, allegedly throwing both in a dumpster in an effort to prevent police from discovering his identity. The latter accusation led to Bonner being charged with tampering with evidence.
In the indictment, filed in Baldwin County District Court, prosecutors wrote that Bonner “knowingly” treated the victim’s body “in a way that outraged ordinary family sensibilities.”
Police also highlighted the fact that Bonner’s husband was previously found dead in the house, also from overdosing.
“Approximately six months ago, same apartment, her husband died of an overdose,” Fuqua said, per Mobile Fox affiliate WALA. Fuqua told the station that Bonner “could definitely be looking at other charges” in connection with the two deaths in her home.
Bonner was processed at the Baldwin County Jail, where a judge set her bond at $5,500 — $5,000 for the abuse of a corpse charge and $500 for the tampering charge, records show.
It was not immediately clear when Bonner was scheduled to appear in court again.
Â
