A Columbia man is facing charges after police say he left his roommate’s body inside their apartment for weeks.
Officers conducted a welfare check on March 24 and reported a strong odor when 29-year-old Ira Baldwin answered the door.
Inside, they found Baldwin’s roommate dead in an upstairs bedroom from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators say the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, suggesting the death occurred at least 10 days to three weeks earlier.
Baldwin told police he had not checked on his roommate for months, saying he feared what he might find.
He is now charged with abandonment of a corpse.