A Kansas 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.

Authorities say Mike Carroll’s pacemaker showed that he died in 2016 at age 81, but Overland Park police 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.

Prosecutors say Lynn Ritter and 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. Lynn Ritter is Carroll’s daughter.

  • RonnyZittledong@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Like what is your exit plan on this? How long did they think they could convince people this guy was living. You can’t exactly present a mummified corpse one day and say “welp he died”.

    • Grimy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      What puzzles me is they called the cops as if they wouldn’t notice how long he had been dead for.

      They could have buried him somewhere and just said he had dementia and ran away. This is just dumb.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      They did their scam at the wrong time.

      Today, you can put together a deep fake video including their voice.

      Have the fake alienate the other family members a few times to stop them from continued inquiries

  • shani66
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    10 months ago

    I sure ain’t gonna blame a normal person for getting theirs, not under capitalism, but it seems like it wasn’t very planned out

    • deft@lemmy.wtf
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      10 months ago

      Tbh not defending them but I’d tell my daughter to do the same. Take from the government all you can fuck those people, toss me off the side of a cliff and cash my checks as long as you can

      • Steve@startrek.website
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        10 months ago

        Agree, but I would make sure she has a plan for disposing of my body. Boating accident seems like a good way to do it.

        • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Usually no. The pension ends when the person dies. Some will pay the spouse a reduced amount. But I haven’t heard of one that pays the kids.

        • deft@lemmy.wtf
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          10 months ago

          Not sure of the law or whatever I’m just saying this story sounds awful but I could see myself doing something similar right?