A 56-year-old man from northern Italy allegedly disguised himself as his mother, who died a few years ago, to continue claiming her annual pension worth thousands of euros.
Instead of reporting her death in 2022, the man, a resident of Borgo Virgilio, near Mantua, reportedly hid her body at home and withdrew her pension payments, according to The Guardian.
Earlier this month, when her ID expired, he reportedly wore makeup, a wig, and women's clothes to impersonate his mother at the municipal office. A staff member got suspicious and alerted the police.
The authorities compared a photo of the real woman with the man who came in pretending to be her. They then went to his house and found the mother's body hidden in the laundry room.
The mayor of Borgo Virgilio, Francesco Aporti, said the man went into the council office dressed like an old woman. "He wore lipstick, nail polish, jewellery, and old-fashioned earrings, and had a dark brown wig," he said.
The man tried to imitate a female voice, "but occasionally a few masculine notes slipped out", the mayor said. A council worker noticed that his neck looked too thick, his wrinkles seemed strange, and the skin on his hands didn't look like that of an 85-year-old woman.
Reports said the man was an unemployed nurse who, using his mother's pension and income from three properties, was making about $61,000 (approximately Rs 50 lakh) a year. Authorities said the man dressed up like his mother in a way similar to the movie Mrs Doubtfire, where Robin Williams' character disguises himself as a woman.
"She probably died of natural causes, but that will be established by the postmortem. It is a very strange story and very, very sad," said the mayor.
The man is facing multiple charges, including hiding his mother's body, committing fraud against the state, forging official documents, and pretending to be someone else.
He has also been accused of removing fluids from his mother's body by using a syringe to prevent the body from decaying. An autopsy has been ordered to find out how she died. He is currently in jail while prosecutors wait for the autopsy results.
