NEWSNew Details In Chilling Nashville Decomposed Mom Scandal: 911 Call & More
Oct. 30 2020, Published 9:13 p.m. ET
The body of Laronda Jolly — who lived with her four adult children — was decayed in her apartment when authorities found it in Nashville, Tenn. Now, more details have been revealed about the disturbing incident.
On October 21, a call made by a Davidson County deputy to a 911 dispatcher sounded normal at first. "Hey, this is Lt. Bogle with the Sheriff’s Office. How are you?" the deputy asked.
"I’m good, how may I help you?" the dispatcher asked. "Hey, we’re out on an eviction at 305 North Second Street."
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However, things quickly took a turn for the worse when the officer revealed he had uncovered a dead body. "Are you able to tell an age or gender?" the dispatcher asked.
"I’m gonna be honest with you, it’s covered up on the bed … who is this upstairs? That’s your mother? How long has she been deceased? Years? You don’t know how long she’s been deceased."
The late 56-year-old was found in the bedroom underneath a pile of clothes after the officer was serving her an eviction notice at the RiverChase apartments. The children, who are intellectually disabled adults, were still living in Jolly’s apartment after she died.
"So, evidently she’s been dead a long time up there. They’ve just got clothes and stuff piled up on top of her," the officer said.
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"Somebody piled clothes on top of her?" the dispatcher asked. "Yeah, they say she’s been deceased for some years up here in this bed," the officer responded.
After authorities spoke with the children, investigators determined Jolly had died two years ago. Metro police ruled out foul play, but they are investigating if any criminal activity happened.
A family friend of Jolly’s — who did not want to be identified — said they hadn’t seen Jolly alive since 2017, "when she asked me to bring her some food by," she told News Channel 5 Nashville. "When I went by there, the children wouldn’t even open the door all the way up, they would say she was asleep, or she wasn’t there."
Later on, one of her daughters posted on Facebook that her mom was ill, and in order to take care of her, they needed money for food. "I don’t know how they are, I don’t know how they paid rent, I don’t know how they survived," the pal told the outlet.
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Jolly’s friend is upset she didn’t call authorities to do a welfare check on Jolly sooner. "The system not only failed her, they failed the kids," she said.
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Officers contacted Todd Flowers, who works for Nashville Intercity Ministries, to ask him if he would take in the four children until Tennessee Adult Protective Services takes over.
"They were incredibly distraught by what they saw and experienced in the middle," he said. "Our officers I'm sure are put in this situation a lot more than we realize." For now, the siblings will stay in a hotel for several days.
This was not the first time that police went to Jolly’s apartment. In March, Jolly’s brother, Anthony Jolly, called police for a welfare check after the siblings wouldn’t let him into the apartment.
The officer was allowed to enter but didn’t see or smell anything strange, but he did notice that Jolly was not home.
