A family in Britain paid tribute to their “beautiful and talented” daughter after it was determined she had been dead for one year following a police check.
Charlotte Leader was just 23 years old when officers in Bolton, England, made thegrim discovery on Aug. 6. Her body was found lying in her bed underneath a duvet.
An investigator said the woman’s last correspondence was with not a human but an artificial intelligence chatbot on July 30, 2024.
“Charlotte was a very beautiful and talented young woman,” her family said,according toThe Bolton News.
“Her many talents were playing the guitar and keyboard and she also had a love for art. She was loved tremendously by the family and will be missed every day.”
An inquest into her death was opened by officials.
The Bolton Coroner’s Court was told last week that Leader had suffered from mental health issues and didn’t keep in touch with her family in recent years.
“In time she becomes a stranger from the family, she pushes people away, and she disengages from the mental health services, as well,” assistant coroner Stephen Teasdale told the inquest.
Leader’s mother, Chantay Simm, said her daughter was “just impossible to find” after not having any contact with her since September 2021.
Caroline Calow said her sister had a “history of eating disorders” — specifically bulimia — from “quite a young age.”
“She wouldn’t leave her flat, her neighbours said they didn’t see her leave,” Calow said.
A pathologist told the court that he was unable to determine an exact reason for her death.
Royal Bolton Hospital’s Dr. Andrew Coates said his examination was made difficult because her body had become “mummified,” adding it was “not unreasonable” for that to occur a year after death.
Police officers were called to Leader’s first floor residence for a welfare check after employees with a property management firm were unable to step inside for a utility inspection.
After entering, police encountered a pile of mail on the floor. They discovered her body lying in bed as if she was sleeping.
Det.-Insp. Paul Quinn told the inquest that the residence was “immaculately clean” but “sparsely furnished.”
Quinn said officers took a look at her phone and found conversations between her and ChatGPT.
“Help me, I’ve went and got food again,” Leader wrote to the chatbot in one conversation. “You sound conflicted about having food,” the app replied.
“It’s food that I didn’t want and that’s frustrating,” she responded.
Investigators were unable to find any recent conversations with a human.
“There were others all in the same context,” Quinn said. “There’s no conversations with anybody, her only contact was with ChatGPT.”
Neighbours told investigators that Leader wasn’t seen leaving her home
