Man charged with elder abuse, dumping mother's body in river

Reporter: Maddie Herron, Haley Zarcone 

A man is now in custody after authorities linked him to his mother's death. 

The Lee and Charlotte County sheriffs announced the arrest in a joint news conference. WINK News reporter Maddie Herron was there and spoke with neighbors in Twin Pine Villages, a North Fort Myers neighborhood where the man was arrested. Deputies confirmed to WINK News that the woman was identified as the mother of 47-year-old Joshua Cullen.

Body camera footage showed Joshua Cullen getting arrested outside his North Fort Myers home on Hitzing Avenue, where he was living with his mother he claimed to be caring for. Cullen reported her missing on Memorial Day, but detectives say she had been dead for weeks.

"What began as a missing person investigation soon revealed a web of lies," Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno stood next to Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell as they announced Cullen's arrest was a major break in a weeks-long Jane Doe death investigation out of the Peace River in Charlotte County.

"These remains were wrapped in blankets rolled inside a rug and bound with tape," Marceno said.

Once deputies found the woman's body, they began searching for evidence near the Peace River.

"Some of the things they collected were a wheelbarrow, blue straps, and a ladder," Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said.

Some of the items appear on top of Cullen's car in surveillance photos. The pictures helped create a timeline and tie Cullen to the scene.

"That's not right. You don't do that to somebody, somebody's mother, somebody's daughter," North Fort Myers neighbor John Fenlon said.

Cullen is charged with neglect of an elderly person and abuse of a dead human body. This remains an active investigation.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office is investigating the case. WINK News is working to learn more about the victim and has reached out to the suspect's family.

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Man charged with elder abuse, dumping mother's body in river