A Florida woman appointed as the legal guardian for her longtime friend, who was living with dementia, is now accused of trying to conceal that friend’s death.
Lori Hamilton, 60, has been charged with disturbing a dead body and failing to report a death, more than a year after authorities discovered the decomposing remains of 59-year-old Brenda Corbin hidden in roadside brush, WINK News reports.
According to an affidavit obtained by WWSB, Hamilton reported Corbin missing on May 20, 2025, telling authorities she had last seen her high school friend the previous night.
Hamilton told investigators she woke up at her Cape Coral home and realized Corbin was gone. She also noted that Corbin did not have access to a cellphone or a vehicle.
Before contacting police, Hamilton claimed she searched for Corbin herself.
She then allegedly suggested Corbin might have been with a man who, years earlier, had “held her against her will for four days,” Law & Crime reports.
But officers who responded to Hamilton’s home said her account raised questions. According to the affidavit, she could not clearly describe what she and Corbin had been doing in the days leading up to the reported disappearance.
“All she said was that they had gone out, but did not remember where they went or what they did,” police wrote in the affidavit.
Lori Hamilton, 60, is facing charges of disturbing a dead body and failure to report a death in connection with the death of her friend and legal ward
She had been the court-appointed guardian of her longtime friend Brenda Corbin, 59, who was suffering from dementia
‘Hamilton did not seem too concerned about Brenda’s disappearance,’ they added, noting she made no phone calls as she allegedly searched for her friend.
During the search, Hamilton posted on Facebook to ask for help moving furniture and made no mention of her missing friend.
Detectives then spoke with neighbors who said they hadn’t seen Corbin recently, and while their doorbell cameras typically caught the two friends walking their dog there was nothing captured on the night Hamilton claimed her friend went missing.
By May 22, investigators carried out a search of Hamilton’s home, truck and phone as they also collected her DNA.
The ensuing search of Hamilton’s pickup truck found Corbin’s wallet, including her Social Security card, and medications inside. Officers also removed discolored towels and bedding, the warrant notes.
Meanwhile, K9 units detected the odor of human remains ‘at or near the rear of the tailgate’ of Hamilton’s truck.
The search of her home further uncovered a blanket that had vegetation stuck in it.
When authorities then probed Hamilton’s cellphone, they obtained location records consistent with license plate reader data showing her truck had been driving north and south on State Road 31 in the early morning hours of May 19, the warrant said.
Corbin’s nude, decomposing body was found covered in brush near a trail at the Babcock Ranch Preserve last year after she went missing
Hamilton had reported Corbin, 59, missing on May 20, 2025, claiming she had last seen her high school friend the night before
A motion-sensor trail camera also caught Hamilton’s vehicle near Babcock Ranch Preserve and cameras later caught the truck at the intersection of State Road 31 and Cypress Parkway just before 5am that day, police said.
When police then asked Hamilton about her early-morning trip, she claimed she was at the ranch checking in on her horse.
However, cameras had never spotted her truck in the area before.
Corbin’s nude, decomposing body was then found covered in brush near a trail at the preserve just one day later, with drag marks leading from the road. A leather belt was also found between the road and the body.
As her body was badly decomposed and had been damaged by animals, a Medical Examiner could not determine how Corbin died.
When officers then notified Hamilton of her friend’s death, they said she ‘looked down’ and slowly backed into her home before shutting the door in their faces.
Cops continued to investigate Corbin’s mysterious death, speaking with Corbin’s children and staff at a Tampa nursing home she was in before Hamilton decided to take care of her herself.
The staff at the facility then told officers they ‘had issues with Hamilton’ when they would need something for Corbin’s care.
Corbin’s cause of death could not be determined. Hamilton has denied killing her friend. Pictured: Brenda Corbin
They described how she allegedly refused to give doctors permission to adjust her friend’s medication – leading the Florida Department of Children and Families to get involved.
When detectives then spoke with Corbin’s children, her son said he had last spoken with his mother on May 16, 2025 when she called him using Hamilton’s phone.
In a voicemail from the call, Corbin could allegedly be heard claiming Hamilton would not divulge the address of her home. But Hamilton then apparently seized the phone and apologized before hanging up.
Police said they tried to get Hamilton to incriminate herself in a phone call they recorded between her and Corbin’s daughter, Heather Bliss, but Hamilton instead denied killing her friend.
‘I haven’t killed your mom,’ she insisted. ‘I would never.’
But during the phone call police noted: ‘Hamilton spoke more about how the police treated her and the trauma she suffered from the police than anything about Brenda or how Brenda’s children felt.’
Bliss told WINK she had been surprised when police arrested Hamilton in connection with her mother’s death.
‘You know, she seemed like she was a good friend to my mom,’ she recounted. ‘There was nothing there for me to suspect that she would do something like this.’
The heartbroken daughter now believes there is more to the story.
‘I wish that she would do the right thing and tell us what happened, because it just doesn’t make any sense,’ she said.
The affidavit against Hamilton says she ‘intended to conceal the death and altered the evidence and/or circumstances surrounding the death of Brenda Corbin.’
She is now behind bars at the Charlotte County Jail, where she is being held on a $6,000 bond ahead of her September 8 arraignment.
