Illinois brothers say mother, sister buried in yard

[Sugar Cookie]

Authorities are planning to excavate a suburban Chicago backyard Friday after two adult brothers found living in what police called a “hoarder home" said they had buried the bodies of their mother and sister there.

Excavation equipment was expected to arrive Friday at the house in Lyons for a forensic investigation by police, the Cook County medical examiner's office and the state’s attorney, police said.

Police said officers were called Thursday morning to the two-story home for a wellness check after a water utility reported that water service wasn't being used at the home. Gas and electric use was also minimal.

Officers found the residence without running water or working toilets, and its back door barricaded. Police described the residence as a “hoarder home” filled with items and waste from floor to ceiling, including feces and bottles filled with urine. Multiple cats and dogs were present.

Lyons Police Chief Thomas Herion said two brothers in their late 40s and early 50s lived there. One of the brothers told officers that his sibling was upstairs and had “some health issues.”

As police treated that man, he told officers his mother and sister had also lived with them but that they had died, and that he and his brother had buried them in the backyard.

“Where are they? He indicated they were buried in the backyard, he said: ‘Oh they got sick, they died and we just buried them in the backyard,’” Herion told WLS-TV.

The brothers said their mother was in her 70s when she died in 2019, and that their 44-year-old sister had hit her head and died in the past year, police said.

The brothers told police they had buried the bodies in the backyard due to fears of COVID-19 and to avoid paying the funeral costs.

The men were taken to a hospital for physical and mental evaluation, but have not been placed under arrest, police said

Police: Illinois brothers say mother, sister buried in yard

Authorities are planning to excavate a suburban Chicago backyard Friday after two adult brothers found living in what police called a “hoarder home" said they had buried the bodies of their mother and sister there. Excavation equipment was expected to arrive Friday at the house in Lyons for a...

news.yahoo.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Brothers Michael and John Lelko

Police said they interviewed the two brothers and learned that their mother died in 2019, and that her death may have been an accident that involved their sister, who then also died.

Speaking later to reporters, the brothers, identified as John and Michael Lelko, claimed that their mentally ill sister had pushed their mother down the stairs in 2015, and that the older woman, in her 70s, ultimately succumbed to a stroke, according to WGN.

The Lelko brothers also reportedly said that their sister died of COVID-19 in 2019, which raised suspicions within the police because the first known cases of the virus in the US were only reported in January 2020.

Police said the brothers told them they buried their mother and sister in their backyard among the carcasses of animals because of COVID-19 fears, and also to save on funeral costs.

The state of Illinois has no records of those deaths.

The Lelkos were taken to a hospital for medical treatment, but have not been arrested or charged with any crime.

They were later discharged and put up in a hotel, but walked over to their house, still wearing blue hospital gowns, to speak to reporters after seeing news reports on television about the impending excavation in their backyard.

Police said they are treating the case as a homicide investigation for evidence-gathering purposes at this time

Hoarder brothers tell cops they buried their sister and mom in yard

Police are preparing to dig up the backyard of a home in Lyons, Illinois, after brothers Michael and John Lelko (pictured) allegedly told them they had buried the bodies of their mother and sister there.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Ramona the brave]

Those boys are not right in the head...

 

[Brillig]

I doubt they killed their mother or sister. They just didn't follow the rules when it came to the bodies. It's a sad situation, actually. I wonder if there is any extended family to assist them?

 

[Ramona the brave]

I doubt they killed their mother or sister. They just didn't follow the rules when it came to the bodies. It's a sad situation, actually. I wonder if there is any extended family to assist them?

Yeah, doesn't seem like it. They needed help and didn't know what to do. They immediately told police about it, and then sat around in the yard all day in their hospital gowns while police investigated. Seems likely they are intellectually disabled and honestly didn't understand what to do. The sister (who allegedly pushed mom down the stairs) was maybe in charge of things...

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Lyons Police Chief Thomas Herion said Thursday that 45-year-old Michael Lelko would be formally charged with two felony counts of concealment of a death.

Herlon said Lelko also could face federal charges in connection to his alleged cashing of his mother's Social Security checks for years after she died.

In August, police discovered the bodies of 79-year-old Jean Lelko and 44-year-old Jennifer Lelko.

Police say Lelko told them his mother died in 2015, and his sister died in 2019.

Because autopsies could not determine the cause of death for either woman, Herion said Lelko was not charged in the deaths of the 79-year-old and 44-year-old, the Associated Press reported.

Lelko told police that his mother was killed by his sister, who pushed her down the stairs and that he buried his sister after she became ill and died.

The AP reported that Lelko's brother is the subject of an investigation but has not been charged with anything.

Man suspected of burying mom, sister in backyard arrested

A man suspected of concealing the deaths of his mother and sister nearly a year after their bodies were found buried in the backyard of their suburban Chicago house has been arrested on felony charges.

www.ksby.com