Canada Family Lived With Corpse for Six Months Hoping for Resurrection

In the hope that the deceased family member would resurrect to life, a Canadian family lived with a dead body in the upstairs bedroom of their house for six months.

The body was discovered when the family was asked to vacate the house for failing to pay the mortgage.

Kaling Wald, 50, pleaded guilty to consciously not notifying the police about the death of her husband. The action is an offense under the provincial Coroner's Act.

The criminal charges laid against her including neglect of duty regarding a dead body and offering an indignity to a body were withdrawn and replaced with a single charge under the Coroner's Act. She was sentenced to probation and counselling Monday, her lawyer told Reuters.

Defense lawyer Peter Boushy said that Wald's 52-year-old husband, Peter Wald, died in March 2013 of natural causes. He had been suffering from a foot infection linked to diabetes. The sickness, according to Wald, was not being treated by any doctor.

Whenever a neighbour asked Wald about her husband's absence, she would reply he was "in God's hands now," The Star reports.

Wald left her husband's body in the upstairs bedroom in their Hamilton Ontario home. She sealed the room so that the odor of decomposition didn't disturb the daily routine of the home an d neighbours. Wald has six children and five of them lived in the house.  

The family was well-known for their active participation in Christian Street ministry and outreach in Hamilton, which is an industrial city around 70 kms southwest of Toronto.

"Just as Jesus raised Lazarus after the fourth day, so too did she believe God would resurrect her husband in due time. There clearly was an over-exuberance of one's faith," said Boushy, the New York Times reports.

The local sheriff, who had come to evict the family, discovered the body of Peter Wald in September 2013. The body was badly decomposed and rodents had been feeding on it. However, the family did not want to conceal the corpse any longer. It had packed his things while preparing to vacate the house.

 The Children's Aid Society launched a probe into the matter, but could not find anything suspicious and soon the case was closed. Boushy said that Wald now understands the legal restrictions and will never do anything like this again. "She certainly was remorseful, and definitely was teary-eyed," he said. "Indeed, she noted that she was never actually able to cry over the passing of her husband, but this seemed to have been an emotional breakthrough after the court proceedings yesterday. I think counseling is certainly going to be beneficial for her."