Man Lived With Dead Mother In Bensalem Home For Days: Court Records

BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — A Levittown man lived with his dead mother for days in her Bensalem home, even ordering takeout food with her “skeleton-like” body present, according to court documents.

Derrick Bouffard, 37, of Levittown, was charged this month with abuse of a corpse after an investigation by the Bensalem Township Police Department. He was charged via summons.

A criminal complaint states that Bouffard knew his 70-year-old mother Cynthia had been dead for at least a week.

Bensalem Police discovered her “skeleton-like” remains in an incident in the 5000 block of Hunter Court last October.

The Bensalem Township Public Works Department requested police while performing work at a property, the criminal complaint states.

Public works employees were attempting to cut the overgrown lawn on the property. They knocked on the door, but no one answered. They had made numerous calls to the home, and called police to perform a well-being check, the complaint states.

The complaint states that Bouffard opened the door for police, saying, "I was just about to call you guys. My mom stopped breathing this morning."

Police said that Cynthia Bouffard — found dead on a mattress in the living room — appeared to have been dead longer than a few hours, the complaint said. An autopsy later concluded that she had been dead for at least a week.

The complaint said that police found filthy conditions in the home: Insects covering the body, a strong smell in the air, fans found throughout the house, baking soda, a freezer filled with spoiled food, and a refrigerator that contained only a few items.

Derrick Bouffard served as the caretaker for his mother, who suffered from dementia and was unable to walk or speak, the complaint states.

Police said that Derrick Bouffard had searched on Google for questions relating to when to report the death of a person, the complaint reads.

Detectives found meal delivery records that showed him ordering food every day for months leading up to his mother being found, and that he retrieved deliveries from the front porch of the home past her body, the complaint states.