UK woman found dead in bed 1 year after she died, last conversations were with ChatGPT

A 23-year-old British woman was found dead in her Bolton, Greater Manchester flat during a police welfare check on Aug 6.

At an inquest into her death, the Bolton Coroner Court heard that Charlotte Leader's body was found after staff at the property management company alerted the police when they could not gain access to the flat for routine utility inspection.

Dr Andrew Coates, the pathologist who gave the results of the post-mortem to the court, said that it was "a difficult examination" as Leader's body had become "mummified", adding that it was "not unreasonable" that this took around a year to happen.

Assistant coroner Stephen Teasdale told the court that items in Leader's fridge had sell-by dates of July 2024.

Police officers who conducted the checks said they noticed "a large volume of letters" behind the front door of the first-floor flat.

No illicit drugs were found at the scene reportedly. 

Detective Inspector Paul Quinn said that Leader's flat was "sparsely furnished" and "immaculately clean". She was found in bed "as if sleeping", he added.

'Mental health issues'

Local media outlet The Bolton News reported Leader's sister Caroline Calow as saying that the flat did not look like "someone who had given up". 

She however admitted that Leader had suffered from bulimia from a young age, and that she was actively trying to avoid contact. 

Teasdale told the court that Leader "suffered from mental health issues", adding that she had declined an appointment with mental health services in 2022 and had no further contact with them.

"In time, she became a stranger from [her] family, she pushed people away, and she disengaged from the mental health services as well," Teasdale said. 

Only conversations on phone were with ChatGPT 

Quinn also revealed that investigators found the only conversations on Leader's phone were with ChatGPT.

Her final message to the chatbot was, "Help me, I've went and got food again [sic]," to which it replied, "You sound conflicted about having food."

Leader then replied: "It's food that I didn't want and that's frustrating."

The detective added: "There were others all in the same context - there were no conversations with anybody, her only contact was with ChatGPT.".

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