By William A. Weathers
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TWP. - The body of a 57-year-old woman who neighbors had not seen around her Pippen Road home for nine months was discovered in a cistern in her back yard Thursday afternoon.

The woman's 31-year-old son, Frederick E. Engelhardt, who lived at the residence with his mother, was charged with murder late Thursday, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said.

Engelhardt was also charged with abuse of a corpse after detectives discovered the remains of Diana L. Engelhardt wrapped in a tarp in the cistern.

She had been reported missing by her sister on March 1, the sheriff's office said.

Investigators discovered the woman's body in the cistern behind the two-story frame house in the 8900 block of Pippin Road after questioning her son about his mother's whereabouts, the sheriff' office said. Detectives had initially been told that the victim was somewhere in Las Vegas being treated for cancer.

The SPCA was summoned to remove a number of dogs and cats from the residence.

Evelyn Moore, who lives across the street, said the son told her months ago that his mother was ill and had gone to Las Vegas and would not be returning.

The family - mother and son - basically kept to themselves, Moore said.

"I'd see her once or twice a week at the mailbox," she said. "The last time I saw her was the first of August."

The victim's sister stopped by around the first of the year and asked her and other neighbors if they had seen her sibling lately because she hadn't heard from her in a while, Moore said.

"I had not seen her for quite some time (then)," Moore said.

Some time later, she said, she asked the son about his mother again.

"I asked where she was and how she was doing," Moore said. "He told me she was sick. That she had gone to Las Vegas with a friend (from bingo). And that she had just stayed out there."

Moore said the mother, father and son moved in about 20 years ago. The mother and son left the neighborhood for a number of years after the father's death and rented out the residence. They returned to the neighborhood about eight years ago, she said.

A detective who visited the neighborhood Tuesday asking about the victim's whereabouts had said a missing person report had been filled, Moore said.

When Engelhardt was questioned by detectives, he provided information that led investigators to believe he was responsible for his mother's disappearance and death, the sheriff's office said.

"It's something you hope doesn't happen," Moore said.

E-mail bweathers@enquirer.com