LA CROSSE, Wis. - A man accused of holding off police for nearly 15 hours by threatening them with explosives told officers he kept his dead mother in a freezer for years while he collected her Social Security checks, authorities said Monday.
Philip Schuth, 52, told police his elderly mother, Edith, died of natural causes in August 2000, but he didn't tell anyone because he was afraid police would blame him, according to a documents filed in court Monday.
Years earlier his mother was attacked by a cat, resulting in her blood landing on the walls in the house they shared, and he was worried he'd be charged with murder, according to the document.
Police recovered the chest-type freezer in Schuth's basement after he eventually surrendered. Inside they found what they think is a human body, frozen in mounds of ice in a seated position. Schuth told investigators he had no other means of income other than his mother's Social Security checks, the court document said.
La Crosse County Circuit Judge Ramona Gonzalez set Schuth's bail at $100,000 Monday, and the district attorney said he expected to charge Schuth next week.
Schuth said almost nothing in court, except to pronounce his last name as "shoof." He rocked in his chair as he waited to face the judge.
