Woman let mother die for 'no good reason'

CHICAGO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old woman charged with felony neglect was held in lieu of $300,000 bail Monday after her mother died after she was found in a squalid South Side apartment.

Vicki Cooper, an employee of ATA Airlines, told police her mother had Alzheimer's disease and that she had failed to feed and care for her for "no good reason."

Paramedics said Vera Cooper, 73, was wearing only a light shirt and was severely malnourished and dehydrated when they responded to a call in sub-freezing cold Friday night.

Cooper was covered in feces lying on a cockroach-infested bed and had been bitten by mice, authorities said.

She died Saturday at Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center. An autopsy performed during the weekend was inconclusive.

Vicki Cooper said in a statement to police that she had not bathed her mother in more than four months and had stopped taking care of the debris-filled apartment they shared about a month ago because she didn't want to do it.

She was charged with criminal neglect of an elderly person Sunday and held on $300,000 bail. Her next court appearance was scheduled for Friday.

An upstairs neighbor said she phoned the city's emergency hotline because of the stench coming from the apartment.