A Hapeville man has been arrested for allegedly burying his mother in the back yard of the home they shared.
Dennis Dark is under investigation for burying his mother in the back yard of their North Whitney Avenue home when she died, but continuing to cash Social Security checks for more than a year, Hapeville police said. He was arrested Jan. 27 by police after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, with help from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, found human remains, believed to be that of Phyllis Dark, in a shallow grave in the yard. The woman is believed to have been in her 90s.
“He said she died of a heart attack between 18 and 24 months ago,” said Detective Justin McGinnis of the Hapeville Police Department. “We know it has been more than a year, but the anthropologist said there needed to be further investigation to be sure.”
McGinnis said Dark was contacted by officials with the Social Security Administration and was under investigation for possible fraud. During questioning, the man allegedly admitted to Social Security officials that his mother died of natural causes and he buried her in the back yard, the detective said.
Dark has been charged with concealing a death and abandonment of a body, but other charges are pending. McGinnis said.
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