Cops find missing woman’s decomposed body ‘partially concealed’ under clothing at home, son accused of murder

A man in Tennessee is accused of killing his mother and then stashing her body under a pile of clothing for possibly over a year.

A person who had not been in contact with Doris Atchison since March 2020 grew concerned and notified the Tennessee Department of Adult Protective Services. Portland police went to a Sumner County home on May 25 to do a welfare check on the 69-year-old woman, Nashville’s WKRN-TV reported.

Officers met with Atchison’s son, Brian Atchison, who allegedly claimed his missing mother had traveled out of town to visit an aunt in Indiana. He then gave the officers permission to enter and look around the property, which the news outlet reported was in disarray.

According to police, Doris Atchison's decomposed body was located “partially concealed with clothing and other items” in a bedroom and appeared to have been there for at least 12 to 15 months. Officers also found two dead cats in a cooler at the property.

During an interview about his mother’s death, Brian Atchison allegedly made incriminating statements to officers that corroborated autopsy findings, WTVF reported.

He was booked into the Sumner County jail without bond and charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and aggravated animal cruelty and is scheduled to appear in court on June 9.