A Pace man was arrested last week for failing to report a death and larceny. According to reports, Michael Sticken, 60, did not report the death of his mother who lay decomposing in the living room for approximately one to four months while he collected her Social Security checks.
May 13, Deputies arrived at Sticken’s Thornton Street address responding to a Department of Children and Families, Adult Division call to do a welfare check on the victim. Reports said the defendant would not allow family members to enter the residence and would tell them their grandmother was sleeping.
Sticken told deputies the same thing, reports said, upon making contact with him. He allowed entry and immediately a deputy detected a foul odor upon entering the home. He noticed two couches pushed together with blankets piled on them. After consenting to a search, according to reports, investigators discovered the decomposed remains of an unidentifiable female under the blankets.
Sticken told deputies his mother was his best friend and adamantly denied causing his mother’s death. Reports did say Sticken shared a joint bank account with his mother where Social Security deposited her checks. June 18, the investigating deputy discovered Sticken withdrew money from the account since January of this year. According to reports, the same day deputies discovered the body, the account received the last Social Security payment and Sticken withdrew $900, with a previously negative balance of $78.48.
Sticken was released on a $6,000 bond.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: SRSO: Pace man lived with mother’s corpse