Italian man put mother’s body in freezer to keep collecting pension

The body of Rosanna Pilloni (left) was kept in a freezer by her son, Sandro Mallus, at the home they shared in Sardinia, Italy, for more than a year.

An Italian man has said he kept his dead mother’s remains in a freezer to cover up her death and continue to collect her pension.

Sandro Mallus told police he put the body of Rosanna Pilloni, 78, in the family’s chest freezer after she passed away at home in the small town of Sarroch, near Cagliari in Sardinia, in January last year.

He made the admission after police began investigating concerns from neighbours that the woman hadn’t been seen for months.

According to local media, Mallus continued shopping as if he was buying for two people, maintaining the pretence his mother was alive.

The house where Sandro Mallus lived with his mother.

Police are due to carry out an autopsy on Monday and have not ruled out the possibility Pilloni was killed, something Mallus denies.

“My mother died of natural causes,” Mallus told the newspaper L’Unione Sarda. “I would never have harmed her.

“When I discovered her body I was desperate. I had no money for the funeral, so I locked her in there.”

Small town in shock

Angelo Dessi, the mayor of Sarroch, said the town’s 5000 residents were shocked and dismayed by the news.

“We live in a tranquil community and it’s a healthy place to live,” Dessi told The Telegraph. “You never think anything like this would happen here.

“We have to reflect on how it could have happened in a community where everyone knows each other. We can’t understand it.”

Sardinian prosecutors have opened an investigation into charges of concealment of a corpse and defrauding the state.

Ivan Murgana, a journalist who lives in Sarroch, said when residents asked Mallus where his mother was he gave various answers.

Police are questioning the dead woman’s doctor and the town’s pharmacy to find out more about the state of her health before her death.