By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A couple has been charged with fraudulently collecting more than $215,000 in retirement benefits on behalf of a dead relative while they concealed his body inside their home for six years.
Mike Carroll’s pacemaker revealed that he died in 2016 at age 81, but Overland Park police, according to authorities, didn’t discover his body until 2022 after his son-in-law, Kirk Ritter, called police to report his death in the Kansas City suburb.
Lynn Ritter, the daughter of Carroll, and her husband Kirk Ritter, both 61, continued depositing and spending from Carroll’s bank account even while his body became “mummified” on a bed in the home he owned.
Family members told the Kansas City Star that Lynn and her husband would repeatedly give them excuses about why Carroll could never take a phone call or visit, making them believe Carroll was still alive.
Prosecutors said the pension and Social Security payments Carroll received over the six years after his death totaled $216,067.
Also, bank records from that time showed checks being written from his bank account and cashed by Lynn and Kirk Ritter.
Stonix News reports that the couple will appear in federal court to face several charges on February 2.
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