Published: 06:50 BST, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 08:22 BST, 12 August 2026
A Florida woman who was appointed to serve as her dementia-addled friend's legal guardian has been accused of covering up her death.
Lori Hamilton, 60, is facing charges of disturbing a dead body and failure to report a death more than one year after authorities found Brenda Corbin's rotting body hidden in the bushes on the side of a road, WINK News reports.
Hamilton had reported Corbin, 59, missing on May 20, 2025, claiming she had last seen her high school friend the night before, according to an affidavit obtained by WWSB.
She told investigators that she awoke at her Cape Coral home to find Corbin missing, noting that her friend did not have a cellphone or a vehicle.
Hamilton claimed that she went out looking for Corbin before calling the police.
She then allegedly speculated that her friend may have been with a man who years earlier 'held her against her will for four days,' Law & Crime reports.
But officers who responded to the scene noted that Hamilton could not explain what she and Corbin had done in the days before her disappearance.
'All she said was that they had gone out, but did not remember where they went or what they did,' police wrote in the affidavit.
Lori Hamilton, 60, is facing charges of disturbing a dead body and failure to report a death in connection with the death of her friend and legal ward
She had been the court-appointed guardian of her longtime friend Brenda Corbin, 59, who was suffering from dementia
'Hamilton did not seem too concerned about Brenda's disappearance,' they added, noting she made no phone calls as she allegedly searched for her friend.
During the search, Hamilton posted on Facebook to ask for help moving furniture and made no mention of her missing friend.
Detectives then spoke with neighbors who said they hadn't seen Corbin recently, and while their doorbell cameras typically caught the two friends walking their dog there was nothing captured on the night Hamilton claimed her friend went missing.
By May 22, investigators carried out a search of Hamilton's home, truck and phone as they also collected her DNA.