An upstate New York man strangled his mother in a motel room, where he and his wife lived with the body for seven weeks before dumping it in a wooded area in South Carolina, state police said.
State troopers went to the Pleasant Valley Motel on Oct. 6 to check on 76-year-old Betty Cole after family members expressed concern about her well-being. Cole had been living at the motel, but wasn't there when troopers arrived, according to police.
A subsequent investigation revealed that Cole's son, Charles, 48, and his wife, Ronalda, 40, had been sharing the motel room with her.
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A man who answered the phone at the Pleasant Valley Motel on Saturday denied there was a body there for seven weeks, saying guests would have complained about the smell. He said police made the story up.
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