Contributed photo / Joseph Anthony Bishop, Meigs County, Tenn.Autopsy results are pending in the death of a 58-year-old woman whose body was found last week at a home in Meigs County, Tennessee after she had been dead for upwards of 19 days with her husband in the house.
County authorities are investigating the death of Linda Kaye Bishop, whose body was found Jan. 26 in a home off Fowler Lane in the Georgetown community, Sheriff's Office Det. Cordus Waller said in a statement.
Fowler Lane is east of State Highway 58 in a remote area about a half-mile south of the Hiwassee River. Homes there are scattered but mostly within sight of one another in the rural neighborhood.
Waller said when deputies first got to the home on a welfare check, they could see a man later identified as the woman's husband, 56-year-old Joseph Bishop, inside the home. Bishop wouldn't answer the door, Waller said. Officers also detected a foul odor.
That was when officers returned with a search warrant and found Bishop in a bedroom with his wife's body, Sheriff Jackie Melton said Monday.
"It looks like she might have been deceased about 19 days," the sheriff said. Melton wasn't sure how long the couple had been married.
The woman's body was sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab for a forensic examination. Investigators hope the autopsy sheds more light on what happened, Melton said.
There was no immediate indication of foul play in the death, Melton said, but Bishop has been charged in the incident with failure to report the discovery of a dead body and abuse of a corpse.
Meanwhile, Bishop is being held on $100,000 bond, Chief Deputy Brian Malone said Monday. He faces a General Sessions Court appearance April 8, records show.
The office of Ninth Judicial District Public Defender Kim Norris is representing Bishop, court records show. No one could be reached Monday for comment on the case.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.
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