An Alabama woman who had been missing almost three months is believed to have been found, after police discovered a body in a 55-gallon-drum under her porch.
Susan Mayo, 60, of Wilmer, had been missing since June 17. Her son, Nathaniel Sebastian, 34, and her mother Doris Clark, 81, have been arrested in connection to her murder after her body was found buried at the family’s home.
‘Once Nathaniel Sebastian realized we were about to look under the front porch he made a spontaneous statement that, ”OK my mama’s under the front porch. Y’all got me,”’ according to MCSO Captain Paul Burch.
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Susan Mayo disappeared on June 16 (left). On Wednesday police found a body under the porch of her home, and her son Nathaniel Sebastian was arrested and charged with murder (right)
It took police five hours to dig the body in the drum out from under the family’s front porch
A decomposing body, believed to be Mayo’s was found in a 55-gallon drum (pictured)
Sebastian blurted out to police ‘My mama’s under the front porch. Y’all got me’ when investigators got close to the house
Sebastian had repeatedly denied knowing where his mother was. However when a search warrant was executed on Wednesday and police came close to the family’s porch, Sebastian confessed.
Sebastian has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and promoting prison contraband. Deputies say he had a handmade prison key concealed in his mouth.
His grandmother, Clark, was also arrested and charged with obstruction of justice.
It took five hours of digging under the porch until investigators found the large drum with a decomposed body inside.
The Mobile District Attorney’s Office prosecutors were present when Sebastian confessed to knowing his mother was under the porch.
‘The drum contained the body of what appeared to be a female. That’s about all we can tell at this point,’ said Burch to NoLa.
The drum was taken by the the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for investigation.
Doris Clark, 81 (left) Susan’s mother, was charged with obstruction of justice. Sebastian (right) had just been released to house arrest for the same charge a day before he was arrested for his mother’s murder
Chillingly Sebastian idolized serial killers.
‘One thing is that he claims to be a big fan of John Gacy, who was a serial killer and he in fact kept bodies of his victims underneath his house,’ said Burch.
‘And whether that’s coincidental or not that certainly gave some thought to leading us there,’ Burch added to NoLa.
One of Mayo’s other children reported her missing, well after she had vanished, and police believe they were giving Sebastian time to cover up his tracks.
‘There had been about a week delay in her being reported missing,’ said Burch. ‘We believe that was at the behest of Sebastian so he could, I guess cover up his crime.’
‘There are some very strange family dynamics in this case, so I don’t want to get into additional suspects, but it’s safe to say when an arrest comes, Nathanial won’t be the only arrest,’ Burch said back in August to WKRG5.
Early on in the investigation into Mayo’s disappearance, Sebastian was arrested and charged with obstruction of governmental operations when police say Sebastian was uncooperative with investigations.
Sebastian was released on house arrest on the obstruction charge and was allowed to go home with an ankle monitor on Tuesday.
‘He just knew he was caught and he knew what we were going to find,’ said Burch to NoLa. ‘It really was just an unexpected, spontaneous and unsolicited statement.’