German police have discovered the mummified body of a woman aged over 100 in the home she shared with her 82-year-old daughter, Bild newspaper reported on Monday.
Police suspected the daughter of hiding the body for years so she could continue collecting the woman's pension, worth around 1,500 euros ($1,780) per month.
They were alerted by the mayor of the small Bavarian town of Ruhmannsfelden, who had sought annually for the past eight years to visit Sophie B., born in 1922, to congratulate her on reaching another birthday.
Mayor Werner Troiber told Bild that on each visit he found the door closed or else the woman's daughter, Christa B., gave a reason not to receive him.
He eventually notified the public prosecutor in late 2025 after the daughter told him her mother had died two years earlier in the Czech Republic.
Police discovered the mother's mummified corpse in early February.
They issued a statement last week saying an autopsy had been conducted but had failed to determine the cause or date of death, other than to say it occurred several years ago.
They have ruled out homicide but launched an investigation into suspected pension fraud.
