LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A man accused of killing his roommate and living with her body for months faces new criminal charges after prosecutors said he used the victim’s money to buy thousands of dollars worth of products from Amazon following her death.
A grand jury indicted George Bone, 31, earlier this month on three theft-related charges, court records showed. The panel indicted Bone last month on a murder charge in the death of 29-year-old Beverly Ma.
During a grand jury return hearing Friday, Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said Bone allegedly raked up $10,000 in Amazon purchases. Police suspect Bone “ordered 171 items from Amazon for himself using her finances while she lay deceased,” court documents said.
Las Vegas Metro police officers took Bone into custody in July after discovering Ma’s body during a welfare check, according to the department.
On the day of Bone’s arrest, police received a 911 call from a family member who said Bone had told her Ma “was in the closet and had been there for two months,” court documents said. Police found Ma’s body in the closet shortly after.
The family member reportedly handed Bone the phone during the 911 call.
“Sir? Tell me exactly what happened,” a dispatcher said to Bone as he was brushing his teeth.
“My roommate ended her life and I found her – she was – her body was in the closet,” Bone told the dispatcher.
Bone told police Ma had died sometime in May, according to authorities. On May 4, dispatchers received a 911 call from Ma and heard a man and woman screaming at each other, police said.
Officers responded that day and knocked on the door but said that no one answered. Because Ma called from her cellphone and did not provide an address, police said they went to the general area but did not see or hear anyone in distress. Investigators suspect Ma died that day.
Photos obtained from inside the home show a house battling an insect infection with multiple flytraps scattered throughout. Photos also show Amazon boxes piled in several places.
“Bone went about living at the house with Beverly deceased in the upstairs closet for the next two months and began ordering several items on Beverly’s Amazon account using her funds for his own gain,” police said in July. “When asked why he didn’t call for help, Bone’s response was ‘I was afraid of going back to jail… for being found with a dead body.'”
“Bone admitted that his behavior since the death of Beverly Ma was ‘not normal,'” the police statement continues. “When asked why he placed a cooler in the master bedroom near the closest, Bone stated that he put it there so that he would be alerted if Beverly rose from the dead like the movie ‘The Grudge.’”
Even though Ma was believed to have been deceased, someone texted from her phone in late July, saying she could not attend a July 4 party because she “wanted to be sober, not travel and not be around people,” police said.
Detectives said they do not suspect Ma killed herself as they said evidence at the scene does not show any signs of that.
Grand jury transcripts reveal the Clark County coroner’s office found a hole in Ma’s skull, which they believe came from a hammer, documents said. Officers found the suspected murder weapon on a table with blood on it.
Police said the hammer tested positive for blood. The hole in Ma’s skull lined up with the weapon’s size, according to prosecutors. Other DNA tests on the object were pending as of Friday.
Additional evidence shown to a grand jury included a photo of a thermostat. Ma’s family, who owns the property, reportedly became concerned, in part, because the energy bill became extremely high.
Detectives suspect Bone kept the home at 60 degrees in an attempt to slow decomposition.
In September, a judge ruled Bone was competent to stand trial. Ma’s family did not respond to a request for comment.
Bone was scheduled to be arraigned in district court on Thursday. He remained in jail Monday without bail.