A Levittown man who kept his 70-year-old mothers’ dead body in her Bensalem home for about 10 days entered a guilty plea in a court appearance at the Justice Center in Doylestown last week.
Derrick Bouffard, 37 entered the negotiated plea Thursday, through his attorney from the Bucks County Public Defender’s’ office, at a hearing in front of President Judge Raymond F. McHugh.
The Common Pleas Court Judge sentenced Bouffard to two years’ probation, according to online court records.
The investigation was launched in large part to Bensalem Public Works employees who were attempting to cut the overgrown lawn. However, they grew leary because they noticed a door to the home was open and then suddenly closed, police said in court papers.
Credit: Lower Bucks Hospital
When Bouffard wa arrested, Bensalem Police noted in court papers other peculiar behavior;
He reportedly ordered food deliveries to the home numerous times until his mother’s body was discovered spending anywhere from $12 to $70 daily, police said. Investigators said in court papers he would have to walk past the family room where his dead mother was lying, multiple times per day, to retrieve the food deliveries off the front porch of the Hunter Court home.
Police say he initiated Google Chrome searches on his cell phone on topics such as: Bensalem probate court, when to notify the bank of the deceased, a number to report an elder death, as well as, if your loved one dies at home do you need to immediately contact the local emergency officials to come and take them to a hospital where they can be legally declared dead.
Investigators noted that fans had been set up in the house to circulate the air and presumably alleviate the odor. Baking soda had also been placed on objects such as the sofa, probably to alleviate the odor, police said in court records. The local emergency officials came and took them to a hospital where they were legally declared dead.