Records shed some light after body found in freezer

For six years Allan Dunn kept dodging judicial reviews of how he was caring for his incapacitated wife, over whom he had been appointed guardian.

When forced to account, he painted a bleak portrait of a woman confined to her bed, someone he slavishly tended, including changing her diaper and turning her to fend off bedsores.

For most of the time, authorities believe, Margaret Dunn was dead – her body stuffed inside a freezer on the porch of the couple's Sun City Center condominium.

Allan Dunn committed suicide in August at age 86.

The body was discovered last month when the woman overseeing Dunn's estate and her sister went to clean the condo in preparation for listing it for sale.

Authorities believe Dunn hid the body so he could continue collecting some financial benefit, although they have not specified the source of the money.

A preliminary autopsy determined the woman was about 78 when she died of natural causes, likely in 2000. She was wearing a diaper.

Margaret Dunn was born in 1922, according to court records.

At various times, Allan Dunn told neighbors his wife was in a nursing home. He told the woman now overseeing his affairs that his wife was dead and that he had no family, even though he had a son and two daughters from a previous marriage.

Margaret Dunn suffered from advanced Alzheimer's disease in her later years.

A panel of three doctors examined her in 1999, finding her mood "pleasant and frequently silly." They said she failed all their tests – spelling backward, remembering three objects after five minutes or doing simple arithmetic.

One doctor recommended she be placed in a nursing home but was overruled by the other two; they believed it was OK to leave her in her home as long as her husband or somebody else provided around-the-clock supervision.

"She is in good humor and doesn't appear to be a difficult person to care for at this time," one doctor wrote.

A judge put Allan Dunn in charge of his wife and her affairs.

Florida law requires guardians to file annual reports outlining their plans for caring for their wards.

Court records and interviews with those who knew him paint Dunn as prickly, someone who resented government interference. He never voluntarily filed the guardianship reports.

When judges demanded them, the replies were terse.

In December 2000, he wrote: "6 a.m. Margaret Dunn washed and a diaper change then feed. Same thing at noon and evening. That is the plan for the next 365 days and beyond."

Two years later it was just a schedule: 7 a.m. diaper change and wash down; 8 a.m. breakfast; lunch at noon with diaper change, wash and turning his wife over; dinner at 6 p.m. again with change and wash; another body turn at 11 p.m. with change and wash.

He told the judge he fed his wife all her meals.

"This is the daily routine," he wrote.

He bristled at providing more information, saying the judge could call his attorney, though the lawyer had stopped representing him in 1999.

Dunn never discussed what benefits his wife might be getting. In a financial disclosure in 2005 he said she had no money, stocks or any assets other than her clothes.

He said their monthly expenses were $934, including $450 for food and $150 in medical bills.

In February 2005, Dunn asked a judge to dissolve the guardianship. He gave no specific reason.

"It serves no purpose now or in the future," he said in a handwritten note on the court's summons to provide the annual report. "Please accept this as a conclusion to a sad situation."

tbrennan@tampatrib.com

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