UPDATE: Woman killed victim, left body on couch for days
PHOENIX (KSAZ) - ***UPDATED*** - A valley woman says the body of a woman found by police on her couch was a "shrine from God."
The Phoenix Police Department tells Fox 10 that 39-year-old Anitra Braxton has been charged with murder after police found the body of 20-year-old Crystal Hillman on her couch inside her apartment on December 26.
Police responded to the apartment at 1515 W. Missouri Avenue after receiving reports of a dead African-American woman covered in a towel laying on the sofa. When officers arrived to the apartment, Braxton told police that no one was inside her apartment and that she lived alone.
However, noticed what appeared to be a body laying on the sofa. Braxton was then arrested and taken to police headquarters. Once police obtained a search warrant for the apartment, they found the body of Hillman wrapped in a towel and laying on the couch. She had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
While being questioned, Braxton told police Hillman's body was a "shrine from God" and was actually her own body. She later told police that the victim had been shot in the eye for not believing in God.
Police also learned from Braxton that the body had been inside her apartment for two to three days and based on evidence, police believe the apartment had been cleaned up in the days since.
Braxton has been charged with first-degree murder and the investigation is ongoing.