Man, 56, ‘dressed as his dead mother to claim money while hiding body at home’

An Italian man is under investigation after being accused of dressing up as his dead mother so he could keep collecting money on her behalf.

According to Corriere della Sera, the man was an unemployed former nurse living in the northern Italian city of Mantua, and his mother had died at the age of 82 around three years ago.

However, instead of reporting that she had died, he is instead accused of wrapping her body up in bedsheets and stuffing it inside a sleeping bag so he could continue to collect her pension.

Graziella Dall'Oglio had been the widow of a doctor and, as such, had been receiving a pension of €53,000 (£46,500) a year along with income from properties they'd owned.

By allegedly hiding her death, the man would have been able to keep collecting the money, until recently, when his late mother's ID card expired, and she would be expected to show up in person to get it renewed.

Local media claims the man decided to pull a scheme akin to Mrs Doubtfire and disguise himself as an old woman, alleging that he went in pretending to be his mother to renew her ID card so he could keep collecting the money.

A picture of the actual Graziella Dall'Oglio, who is thought to have died around three years ago (Corriere della Sera)

It's claimed that he got his hair cut in a similar style to his mother's, put on makeup and donned her necklace and earrings, but when he showed up to the town of Borgo Virgilio to get his mother's new ID card the clerk noticed that the person in front of her didn't look old enough to be 85, and there were several other clues.

Francesco Aporti, mayor of Borgo Virgilio, told Corriere della Sera that the clerk noticed 'hair on her neck' and 'beard holes protruding from the greasepaint', and so alerted the police.

A police investigation saw the alleged Mrs Dall'Oglio arrive and leave in a car, but she didn't have a driver's licence, and they found that in recent years she hadn't been to see a doctor or interacted with healthcare services at all.

They also found signatures on some documents which didn't quite match those of older ones, while on more recent documents, her son had been acting on her behalf as a proxy.

Police also questioned locals who said they hadn't seen her for years, so they decided to try and contact her directly.

A picture of the man who allegedly dressed as his mother to keep claiming her benefits (Corriere della Sera)

Investigators called the home to say the ID card registration procedure hadn't been completed properly, and asked the man to pass along a message to his mother that she'd need to come back in.

Mayor Aporti claimed that when the man showed up, he was told he'd need to sort some things out at the police station, where he gave permission for his house to be searched.

There, investigators allegedly found a 'mummified' body, which the mayor says seems to have died of natural causes, which officials are studying to determine whether it is the man's mother.

Italy's military police said in a statement that the corpse was wrapped up in bedsheets and a sleeping bag.

The man is now being investigated for concealing a body and fraud.