Kansas couple charged with collecting man’s retirement while keeping his body in their home 6 years

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — 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. Family members told the Kansas City Star they were led to believe Carroll was still alive.