Hamilton family left corpse upstairs for six months expecting resurrection
Kaling Wald, right, stands with lawyer Peter Boushy outside of court Monday. Wald believed her husband, Peter, would be resurrected
An undated image of the minivan belonging to Peter Wald, found dead in his home Sept. 17, 2013
Peter Wald's family truly believed he would rise from the dead.
They believed it because they had prayed for it, every single day, while his corpse lay rotting for six months in an upstairs bedroom of their Hamilton home
When neighbours asked about her husband, curious about the 52-year-old man's seeming disappearance, Kaling Wald would tell them he was "in God's hands now."
On Monday, Kaling, 50, pleaded guilty to failing to notify police or the coroner that her husband had died due to a sickness that was not being treated by a doctor. It's the first known case of its kind (involving the resurrection belief) in Canada.
The criminal charges originally laid in the case – neglect of duty regarding a dead body and offering an indignity to a body – were withdrawn and replaced with that single charge under the Coroner's Act.
Kaling had no ill intent, all agreed. As assistant crown attorney Janet Booy put it, the devout Christian woman's faith had "tainted and warped her better judgment."
"We were trusting God…we thought, 'OK Lord, you know better," Kaling told the Spectator after court Monday, with lawyer Peter Boushy by her side.
Peter Wald, 52, died "probably around March 20th" last year, according to the agreed statement of facts read out in court Monday. He'd suffered from diabetes and his left foot had become infected. But he had refused to go to the hospital and believed God would cure him.
He went into a coma, she says, and days later she noticed his stomach bloating and signs of rigor mortis on his forehead.
She then left him – his body covered with two blankets, his head with a toque – in the bed and padlocked the bedroom door.
Kaling sealed in the door and the vents with duct tape to protect her family from the smell of the cadaver. And then for six months, life went on and they prayed for their dead husband and father in the bed upstairs as they awaited his return.
It was Sept. 17, 2013 when the body was finally discovered. The sheriff had arrived to evict the family from the St. Matthews Avenue, near Barton Street East and Wentworth Street North, house after they had defaulted on the mortgage.
Expecting the eviction, the family packed the dead man's belongings and had his shoes and bags ready to go.
"That was how strong our faith was," Kaling says.
But when she unlocked the bedroom door his body, which had attracted rodents, was so decomposed it was impossible to identify by photograph.
His feet were sticking out from under the blankets with gauze still wrapped around the left foot.
"He (the sheriff) said 'OK that's enough, close the door," Wald remembers.
Police and the coroner were called, but because of the mummified state of his body, toxicology tests could not be conducted and a cause of death was not confirmed—though it is "likely due to natural causes," the pathologist's report says.
The Children's Aid Society was called in too but they found no concerns for the well-being of the couple's children and the case was closed.
Everyone living in the home – Kaling, five of her six children age 11 to 22, and seven other adult friends – were interviewed by police. Each provided a consistent account of his death and their religious belief that he could be resurrected.
In court Monday, the crown acknowledged that had they gone to trial their chance at a conviction would be slim. There was no criminal intent—as Wald said afterwards, she wasn't even aware there was a law against this.
"It's an extremely sad case…she truly believed her husband was going to be resurrected from the dead, even after six months," said assistant crown attorney Janet Booy.
Booy says she researched the law extensively and could not find another case like this.
Kaling – who has no past criminal record – had her sentence suspended and was put on 18 months of probation and ordered to seek counseling around the "public health concerns" of the incident.
"Your belief that your husband would resurrect is not an issue," Superiour Court Justice Marjoh Agro said at her plea Monday.
"This is not about your religious beliefs. It is about your safety, the safety of your children and the safety of the community at large."
The Walds were known around their neighbourhood for their blue Astro van that was covered in messages of love for God and had crosses carved into the headlights so they would project the religious symbol.
They were regularly spreading the gospel and handing out food for homeless people in the winter through their street ministry, she says.
She insists "we lived a normal life. We were clean people."
She disputes references in the media that the family was seen chanting in the backyard and says they were simply putting on religious skits for homeless people in the neighbourhood.
The family has since moved to Fort Erie. With the criminal case behind her, she says she can finally grieve the loss of her husband and move past the attention the strange case received.
"It was unusual, yes. It was certainly not normal. And we won't do that again…laws exist and we know that now."
But she still believes strongly in resurrection, and says there have been many "documented" cases of it around the world. Her faith was not shaken by the legal consequences, she says.
"In fact it has cast me more at the mercy of God, because He is the ultimate judge."
Kaling Wald, right, stands with lawyer Peter Boushy outside of court Monday. Wald believed her husband, Peter, would be resurrected
An undated image of the minivan belonging to Peter Wald, found dead in his home Sept. 17, 2013
Peter Wald's family truly believed he would rise from the dead.
They believed it because they had prayed for it, every single day, while his corpse lay rotting for six months in an upstairs bedroom of their Hamilton home
When neighbours asked about her husband, curious about the 52-year-old man's seeming disappearance, Kaling Wald would tell them he was "in God's hands now."
On Monday, Kaling, 50, pleaded guilty to failing to notify police or the coroner that her husband had died due to a sickness that was not being treated by a doctor. It's the first known case of its kind (involving the resurrection belief) in Canada.
The criminal charges originally laid in the case – neglect of duty regarding a dead body and offering an indignity to a body – were withdrawn and replaced with that single charge under the Coroner's Act.
Kaling had no ill intent, all agreed. As assistant crown attorney Janet Booy put it, the devout Christian woman's faith had "tainted and warped her better judgment."
"We were trusting God…we thought, 'OK Lord, you know better," Kaling told the Spectator after court Monday, with lawyer Peter Boushy by her side.
Peter Wald, 52, died "probably around March 20th" last year, according to the agreed statement of facts read out in court Monday. He'd suffered from diabetes and his left foot had become infected. But he had refused to go to the hospital and believed God would cure him.
He went into a coma, she says, and days later she noticed his stomach bloating and signs of rigor mortis on his forehead.
She then left him – his body covered with two blankets, his head with a toque – in the bed and padlocked the bedroom door.
Kaling sealed in the door and the vents with duct tape to protect her family from the smell of the cadaver. And then for six months, life went on and they prayed for their dead husband and father in the bed upstairs as they awaited his return.
It was Sept. 17, 2013 when the body was finally discovered. The sheriff had arrived to evict the family from the St. Matthews Avenue, near Barton Street East and Wentworth Street North, house after they had defaulted on the mortgage.
Expecting the eviction, the family packed the dead man's belongings and had his shoes and bags ready to go.
"That was how strong our faith was," Kaling says.
But when she unlocked the bedroom door his body, which had attracted rodents, was so decomposed it was impossible to identify by photograph.
His feet were sticking out from under the blankets with gauze still wrapped around the left foot.
"He (the sheriff) said 'OK that's enough, close the door," Wald remembers.
Police and the coroner were called, but because of the mummified state of his body, toxicology tests could not be conducted and a cause of death was not confirmed—though it is "likely due to natural causes," the pathologist's report says.
The Children's Aid Society was called in too but they found no concerns for the well-being of the couple's children and the case was closed.
Everyone living in the home – Kaling, five of her six children age 11 to 22, and seven other adult friends – were interviewed by police. Each provided a consistent account of his death and their religious belief that he could be resurrected.
In court Monday, the crown acknowledged that had they gone to trial their chance at a conviction would be slim. There was no criminal intent—as Wald said afterwards, she wasn't even aware there was a law against this.
"It's an extremely sad case…she truly believed her husband was going to be resurrected from the dead, even after six months," said assistant crown attorney Janet Booy.
Booy says she researched the law extensively and could not find another case like this.
Kaling – who has no past criminal record – had her sentence suspended and was put on 18 months of probation and ordered to seek counseling around the "public health concerns" of the incident.
"Your belief that your husband would resurrect is not an issue," Superiour Court Justice Marjoh Agro said at her plea Monday.
"This is not about your religious beliefs. It is about your safety, the safety of your children and the safety of the community at large."
The Walds were known around their neighbourhood for their blue Astro van that was covered in messages of love for God and had crosses carved into the headlights so they would project the religious symbol.
They were regularly spreading the gospel and handing out food for homeless people in the winter through their street ministry, she says.
She insists "we lived a normal life. We were clean people."
She disputes references in the media that the family was seen chanting in the backyard and says they were simply putting on religious skits for homeless people in the neighbourhood.
The family has since moved to Fort Erie. With the criminal case behind her, she says she can finally grieve the loss of her husband and move past the attention the strange case received.
"It was unusual, yes. It was certainly not normal. And we won't do that again…laws exist and we know that now."
But she still believes strongly in resurrection, and says there have been many "documented" cases of it around the world. Her faith was not shaken by the legal consequences, she says.
"In fact it has cast me more at the mercy of God, because He is the ultimate judge."
