The adoptive parents of Natalie Finn, the Iowa teenager who died of starvation wearing a diaper filled with her own waste, took out two life insurance policies on the teen and inquired about them just hours after she died, MSN is reporting .
In a crime that shocked Des Moines, Finn, 16, was found dead in October of 2016, according to a Des Moines Register report at the time. The emaciated teenager was found dead, lying on the floor in a bedroom, in an adult diaper filled with her waste. She was covered in a blanket soaked in urine. First responders said the squalid home reeked of human and animal waste, and dozens of animals walked freely about the house and over her corpse.
A coroner determined that she died of emaciation because of denial of critical care.
Other adopted siblings were also found alive but in varying stages of emaciation, including two adopted sisters who were underweight and covered in bedsores. The children’s adoptive father allegedly later admitted to nailing the windows shut to keep the kids from escaping and going to a nearby convenience store to beg for food.
Police later charged her adoptive parents, Nicole Finn, 42, and Joseph Finn, 46, with a host of felonies, including kidnapping, neglect or abandonment and child endangerment.
House committee reviewing Iowa DHS following Natalie Finn death https://t.co/RTTkSRX0yd pic.twitter.com/cZND6jfcgU
— KCCI News (@KCCINews) April 12, 2017
In court filings released to the public this week, it was revealed that Natalie’s adoptive parents had taken out two life insurance policies on the teenager before she died.
Specifically, Hartford Life Insurance policy carried a $10,000 benefit, and a Modern Woodmen of America policy carried a $25,000 benefit. Joseph Finn called about the larger policy the day after Natalie’s death, asking how to file a claim and collect the money, authorities say. Natalie’s oldest adoptive brother, Alexander Finn, also called asking about the money. He has not been charged with any crimes.
As of this writing, it remains unclear who, if anyone, will receive any money from either of the two life insurance policies. Both are being tried for murder, and if convicted (or if they plead guilty), Iowa law says they cannot receive any money. Meanwhile, Modern Woodmen has asked that the court itself be the beneficiaries of its $25,000 policy, due to not wanting to be tied up in a “controversy not of its making.”
[Featured Image by West Des Moines Police]
