An Illinois woman has been charged in the death of her 10-year-old son whose body was found by police in a garbage can in her garage — seven months after he died under suspicious circumstances.
Rock Island police responding to a tip about 37-year-old Sushi Staples made the grisly discovery of Zion Staples’ body on July 26, according to the Quad-City Times.
A woman who tipped off authorities told KWQC she had made multiple calls to the Department of Children and Family Services in the past few months because Staples was making odd comments about her son.
On Jan. 3, the mother told the source that Christmases would never be the same, according to the outlet. Police conducted the fateful wellness check after the woman called DCFS on July 25, according to the outlet.
Zion, who died in December, was officially pronounced dead at 10:06 p.m. July 26, Coroner Brian Gustafson told the Quad-City Times.
Preliminary results of an autopsy performed in Rockford indicate that the death was not natural and was considered suspicious, according to the Quad-City Times.
“Due to the extreme initiation of the investigation, no further information will be available at this time,” Gustafson said, KWQC reported.
Staples was slapped with felony charges of failure to report the death of a child under 13, concealment of death and obstruction of justice, officials said. The charges are each punishable by one to three years behind bars.
She allegedly lied to an officer about the whereabouts of Zion and claimed she had no son and that his birth certificate was fraudulent, according to a criminal complaint cited by the outlet.
The mother “knowingly moved the body of (Zion) from its place of death with the intent of concealing information, regarding the place or manner of (Zion’s) death by moving (Zion’s) body from inside the residence to a large garbage bin that was located in the garage,” the complaint states, the Quad-City Times reported.
Andre and Danielle Builta, who moved to the neighborhood last month after renovating their home, said there was never any indication of anything amiss at the house next door, where a seemingly happy family lived.
“We saw that, we saw two girls. You know, coming sometimes, like out in the yard. I saw them drawing with chalk in the back driveway,” Danielle told KWQC.
“And with scooters out front of the garage, everything seemed really normal. They would wave when they saw us. And so we were like, ‘Oh, they seem pretty friendly,’” she said.
Andrew said that “knowing what was in the garage” about 30 feet from their new house, it’s “worrying” and “kind of scary,” adding that “it was quite a surprise. I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
A neighbor said she wanted to know why it took so long for Zion’s body to be found.
“I had a dead raccoon in my backyard, and we put it in a garbage can, I mean, in a garbage bag and then put it in a garbage can,” the woman, who declined to be named, told KAAL.
“And I couldn’t even stand the smell waiting for garbage day. So I can’t imagine that with the wind directions, that nobody would smell that,” she added.
Staples made her first court appearance on July 28 and was held on $500,000 bail pending an Aug. 15 hearing.
