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Background: The home on Hunter Court in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, where Cynthia Bouffard”s body was found (WPVI/YouTube). Inset: Cynthia Louise Bouffard (James J. Dougherty Funeral Home, Inc.).
A Pennsylvania man is facing charges after allegedly allowing his deceased mother’s body to decompose for approximately two weeks in their home before a neighbor alerted authorities due to a strong odor.
Derrick Bouffard, aged 37, has been charged with abuse of a corpse following the death of his 70-year-old mother, Cynthia Bouffard, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime. Although the charges were filed on March 6, the incident dates back to late 2025.
On October 25, 2025, officers from the Bensalem Police Department responded to a residence on the 5000 block of South Hunters Court in Bensalem, Pennsylvania—a township located just northeast of Philadelphia. A nearby resident had contacted the police after detecting a foul smell, as reported by local ABC affiliate WPVI.
When police arrived, Derrick Bouffard reportedly met them at the door, stating, “I was just about to call you guys, my mom stopped breathing this morning.”
Upon entering the house, officers discovered the body of an elderly woman, later identified as Cynthia Bouffard, with assistance from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the Bucks County Coroner’s Office.
However, it did not appear to authorities as though she had just stopped breathing earlier that day. The police department noted that “she appeared to be emaciated and had been deceased for some time in the living room of the home.”
Investigators believed Cynthia Bouffard was dead on a mattress in the living room for nearly two weeks because she was decomposing and weighed just 60 pounds, the local outlet reported. In that time span, Derrick Bouffard is said to have been ordering food to the house one to three times a day and had to walk past the living room to get to the front door.
The Bensalem Police Department said the day after officers arrived at the home that it and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office “are treating this as a suspicious death investigation pending the results of the autopsy.”
However, according to WPVI, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said that based on the medical examiner’s report, it appeared that Cynthia Bouffard died from medical causes.
Carrie Acevedo, Cynthia Bouffard’s daughter, told the TV station that she feels “super conflicted” because “I know my mom loves my brother very much. I don’t want to feel hate for my brother.”
“It feels like a movie,” Acevedo continued, adding that her mother may have suffered from severe dementia but was never diagnosed. “It doesn’t feel like it’s real life. I feel regret for not being there, for not doing more.”
Cynthia Bouffard is remembered in her obituary as a former nurse who “cared for countless patients with dedication and compassion for over three decades.” She “was a fiercely independent, strong-willed woman, proud of her resilience and ability to stand on her own.”
Derrick Bouffard is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on April 8.