New Jersey authorities came across a rotten body of an elderly woman after they were involved in a three-hour standoff with her daughter Saturday.
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said that Cheryl Gatling, 53, barricaded herself in her Arlington Avenue residence when confronted by Jersey Police.
The officers were responding to a welfare check request at around 8:18 p.m. but the suspect refused to let them in.
Hours later, at around 11:24 p.m., she ultimately allowed officers to access the home where Dorothy Gatling’s body was found.
The 78-year-old’s remains indicated that her death occurred days earlier. An official cause of death is pending.
The younger Gatling was arrested and charged with second-degree concealing human remains third-degree possession of a knife, and making terroristic threats.
