Kansas couple living with corpse charged with collecting relative’s retirement fund 6 years after death

A Kansas couple has been charged with fraudulently gathering greater than $215,000 in retirement advantages on behalf of a lifeless relative whereas they hid his physique inside their house for six years.

Authorities say Mike Carroll’s pacemaker confirmed that he died in 2016 at age 81, however Overland Park police did not 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 house he owned. Lynn Ritter is Carroll’s daughter.

Members of the family informed the Kansas Metropolis Star that the Ritters would repeatedly give them excuses about why Carroll may 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 costs on Feb. 2. They did not reply to cellphone and electronic mail messages from the newspaper, and court docket paperwork don’t checklist a protection legal professional representing them.

Prosecutors mentioned the pension and Social Safety funds Carroll acquired over the six years after his dying totaled $216,067. However financial institution information from that point confirmed checks being written from his checking account and cashed by Lynn and Kirk Ritter.