OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A Kansas couple has been accused of fraudulently collecting more than $215,000 in retirement benefits on behalf of a deceased relative while hiding his body in their home for six years.
Authorities say Mike Carroll’s pacemaker showed 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 suburb from Kansas City to report.
Prosecutors say Lynn Ritter and Kirk Ritter, both 61, continued to deposit and spend money from Carroll’s bank account even while his body was being “mummified” on a bed in the home he owned. Lynn Ritter is Carroll’s daughter.
Family members told the Kansas City Star that the Ritters would repeatedly give them excuses as to why Carroll could never take a phone call or visit, while leading them to believe that Carroll was still alive.
The couple is scheduled to appear in federal court on February 2 to face several charges. They did not respond to phone and email messages from the newspaper, and court documents do not list an attorney representing them.
Prosecutors said the pension and Social Security payments Carroll received in the six years after his death totaled $216,067. But bank records at the time showed checks had been written from his bank account and cashed by Lynn and Kirk Ritter.