Columbia woman accused of abandoning man's corpse

COLUMBIA, Mo. — A 55-year-old woman has been charged with abandonment of a corpse after a decaying body was found in a Columbia apartment.

Prosecutors filed the charge Tuesday against Deborah Berardi of Columbia who is jailed in Boone County on $20,000 bond. No attorney is listed for her in online court records.

Columbia police said in a news release her arrest Tuesday night during a traffic stop on Interstate 70 came one day after the body of 60-year-old Steven Summa was discovered. A probable-cause statement said he appeared to have been dead several days before an employee of a property-management company found his body.

Police said preliminary autopsy results didn’t indicate foul play. Toxicology results are pending.

Berardi listed Summa as her spouse on a utility account.

Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com