An unemployed Italian man spent years impersonating his dead mother to fraudulently claim her pension, in a case being referred to as the “Mrs. Doubtfire scandal” by local media after the 1993 Hollywood hit in which Robin Williams dresses up as a housekeeper to see his own children. The 56-year-old conman, who has not been named, concealed the body of his mother, Graziella Dall’Oglio, in a sleeping bag and stashed her in the laundry room after she died at age 82 three years ago, Italian newspapers report. But rather than reporting her death, the son instead meticulously impersonated every detail of his mother down to her clothing and makeup, and cashed her pension every week, netting around $61,000 a year. So convincing was the disguise that he was even able to renew her ID card at a government office, until an eagle-eyed employee eventually notified authorities after becoming wary of Mrs. Dall’Oglio’s “low voice” and thick neck. “He came into the council offices wearing a long skirt, he was wearing lipstick and nail varnish, a necklace and old-style earrings,” said town mayor Francesco Aporti. “But up close his neck was too thick and his wrinkles were strange, the skin on his hands did not seem to be that of an 85-year-old woman. His voice was feminine but every so often it dipped and sounded masculine. But I might not have noticed these strange features had they not been pointed out.” After the ruse was up, police searched the property where they found Mrs. Dall’Oglio’s body “in a clear state of mummification,” and took it to a nearby hospital for a postmortem. The man is being investigated for illegally concealing a dead body, and for fraud.
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