A 32-year-old man in Miami-Dade County thought he had the perfect explanation for the mutilated body in his bedroom closet: It was a life-size blow-up doll with human flesh, he told police.
That story didn't stop detectives from arresting Jerome Ernest Wright and charging him with abusing a dead human body, identified as his girlfriend, Deanna Clendinen, the Miami Herald reported.
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The grisly scene was discovered Friday. Police said the woman's stomach had been lacerated and many of her internal organs removed. The organs were later found in a garbage can outside the home.
Wright denied killing Clendinen, and murder charges have not been filed. "Pending the medical examiner's report, we'll know which way the investigation will go," the Herald quoted Miami-Dade Detective Alvaro Zabaleta.
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Police were tipped off to the body when a foul smell from Wright's bedroom was reported by his mother, who also lives in the home. She said that Clendinen, 52, often stayed with her son.
Wright then emerged from his room "naked and sweaty," police said. When they began investigating his room, they said they spotted a decomposed leg sticking out of his closet. His explanation: It was a life-size blow-up doll made of flesh.
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When questioned, he repeatedly told police that if they found anything in his room, "it's from the Internet."
Wright was on probation for aggravated battery against Clendinen when her body was discovered.
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