The Richmond County grand jury returned the indictment Tuesday against Angela Suzette Mercer, 43.

Mercer, who was her son’s caretaker, was arrested on a charge of concealing a death after the body of 23-year-old Robin Adams Jr. was found in the family’s James Drive home. Because of the body’s condition, the coroner was unable to pinpoint the exact time of death.

The indictment alleges that Mercer abused and neglected Adams, who was physically and mentally incapacitated, between March 20, 2008, and Sept. 1, 2012, by not providing proper nutrition, food or essential services, which caused his death.

The condition of the body and the difficulty in examining it prolonged the case, according to earlier reports in The Augusta Chronicle.

After an autopsy at the Geor­gia Bureau of Inves­tigation crime lab in Au­gusta, the body was sent to the GBI’s Atlanta crime lab and then to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where a forensic anthropologist is doing a microscopic examination of the bones.

According to university spokeswoman Whitney Heins, the anthropology department averages about 50 law enforcement and medical examiner consultations per year.