A Kansas couple has been charged with fraudulently accumulating greater than $215,000 in retirement advantages on behalf of a lifeless relative whereas they hid his physique inside their residence for six years.
Authorities say Mike Carroll’s pacemaker confirmed that he died in 2016 at age 81, however Overland Park police didn’t uncover his physique till 2022 after his son-in-law, Kirk Ritter, referred to as police to report his dying within the Kansas Metropolis suburb.
Prosecutors say Lynn Ritter and Kirk Ritter, each 61, continued depositing and spending from Carroll’s checking account even whereas his physique turned “mummified” on a mattress within the residence he owned. Lynn Ritter is Carroll’s daughter.
Relations told the Kansas City Star that the Ritters would repeatedly give them excuses about why Carroll might by no means take a cellphone name or go to whereas main them to imagine that Carroll was nonetheless alive.
The couple is because of seem in federal court docket to face a number of expenses on Feb. 2. They didn’t reply to cellphone and electronic mail messages from the newspaper, and court docket paperwork don’t record a protection lawyer representing them.
Prosecutors stated the pension and Social Safety funds Carroll acquired over the six years after his dying totaled $216,067. However financial institution data from that point confirmed checks being written from his checking account and cashed by Lynn and Kirk Ritter.
