As investigators continue working to positively identify remains of a human body discovered in a homemade coffin stored in Clearwater storage unit Thursday, details of why the body was placed in the unit appear to be linked to a known hoarder.
The body found in the storage unit is believed to be Ann Bunch, who died in 1995, was placed in the unit and remained until Thursday.
Bunch's family rented multiple units from the storage facility since 1985, but recently fell on hard times and had trouble making rent.
When the company was getting ready to clear out the family units and place their items up for auction, the Bunch's granddaughter, Rebecca Ann Fancher, 54, alerted the storage company to the remains of her grandmother.
"She didn't like to waste anything," Francher said Friday.
Known hoarder believed to have stored mother's body in storage unit
In a strange twist, a look at our records shows Fancher's mother, Bobbie Hancock, was a known hoarder who was the subject of a Pinellas County court order in 2010.
Fancher said her mother told her on her death bed she stored her own mother in the unit in 1995.
"I feel like I've failed my mom. She would have been so embarrassed," Fancher said. "I wanted to take care of it for her."
In 2010, Hancock was the subject of Pinellas County court order to clean up her filthy Clearwater home. --- DETAILS
Numerous animals, including 11 cats, were seized from Hancock's home --- DETAILS
Fancher said she planned to use her mother's life insurance policy to transport both her mother and her grangmother's bodies to Alabama for proper burials.
Fancher was able to tow her mother's body on a trailer back to Alabama, but she had to leave her grandmother in the storage unit when she learned the insurance policy had been dropped and she would receiveno funds.
"When you're hanging on by a a thread and the thread breaks, it's just an avalanche," Fancher said.
Despite a lack of recent funds, the family paid $300 a month for storage in the facility since 1985.
Storage facility contacts law enforcement about body in a storage unit
Facility officials contacted Clearwater Police officials and officers responded to investigate the Fancher's claim. When officers opened the coffin, skeletal remains of a human body were in the coffin.
Officers investigated the family's two other units to make sure the woman's mother who recently died wasn’t also stored in one of the units. Police confirmed Friday that Hancock's body was properly disposed through a funeral home in Alabama.
Officers said there was nothing suspicious found in any of the three units rented to the family.
Criminal charges are not anticipated for Fancher at this time.
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