Woman faces more charges in death of teen found in Philadelphia basement

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Thursday, August 13, 2020
Woman charged after teen's body found in plastic bin inside South Philadelphia basement
A woman is now facing charges after authorities find a teen's body inside a plastic bin as reported on Action News at 11 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2020.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A woman has been charged with murder in the death of a teenager whose body was found in the basement of her Philadelphia home earlier this year.

Maddison Leidy, 26, was also charged with drug delivery resulting in death. The counts come about seven months after police found Erin Schweikert's badly decomposed body inside a small storage space in the basement of Leidy's home. A cause of death for the 17-year-old has not been disclosed.

Body of missing teen found in bin in South Philadelphia amid human trafficking investigation: Sources

Sources tell Action News that authorities have identified the body found in a bin during a human trafficking investigation.

Leidy had been arrested in January and charged with abuse of corpse, obstruction, and other counts.

She remains jailed without bail, and it wasn't known Thursday if she's retained an attorney.

Schweikert, the mother of a toddler daughter, was last seen by relatives in September 2019, when she left her Philadelphia home to hang out with friends. Her body was found Jan. 16, when law enforcement officers went to Leidy's home to arrest her on a probation violation.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.