No charges in grandmother's death

CLEARWATER - There will likely be no charges filed against family members of a woman whose remains were found inside a storage unit, Clearwater police said Friday.

The family's secret was uncovered Thursday afternoon when the staff at U-Stor Self Storage went into the unit of a delinquent renter, and discovered a coffin.

They called police, and when the casket was opened, the found the skeletal remains of a woman who died 17 years ago, and was never buried.

Police identified the deceased woman as Ann Bunch, who was born in 1900 on New Year's Day.

According to investigators, managers at the storage business contacted Bunch's granddaughter, Rebecca Ann Fancher, because rent hadn't been paid since December 1.

They told Fancher they were going to seize and auction off the contents of the unit.

That's when they say Fancher told them her grandmother's body was inside the unit, and they called police.

According to investigators, Fancher said her mother, Bobbie Barnett Hancock, was on her deathbed when she told her Bunch was in the storage unit.

That was last year, Fancher told police.

Investigators checked, and they say Hancock's body was "properly disposed of" at a funeral home in Alabama.

They say they don't anticipate charging Fancher.

Bunch's remains were taken to A Life Tribute, which provides indigent burials in Pinellas County.

FOX 13's Peter Linton-Smith will have the latest at 5 & 6.