Arrested One Year After Mother and Sister Were Found Buried in Backyard of Chicago Hoarder
Because the cause of the deaths was a mystery, he will not face criminal charges.
Because the cause of the deaths was a mystery, he will not face criminal charges.
A Chicago hoarder was jailed, but not for the deaths of his mother and sister, who were found buried in his backyard.
One year after the bodies of Jean Lelko, 79, and Jennifer Lelko, 44, were discovered packed inside Christmas decoration storage containers, Michael Lelko, 45, has been charged with two felonies of concealing a death.
No charges have been filed against John Lelko, the younger brother who shared his residence and was reportedly aware of the bodies.
It’s believed that the men’s deaths went unnoticed because they continued to pay their mother’s social security cheques, which were worth about $1,000 per month.
The horrific discovery was made during a welfare check at their Lyons home after it was discovered that the property had no running water.
Thomas Herion, the Lyons police chief, described the house’s conditions as “not compatible to living.” Hundreds of bottles of urine and faeces were found inside, according to him, and the brothers had to use the windows to enter and exit the house. “It was brutal. Absolutely brutal,” he said. He recalled it as “absolutely brutal.”
The chief added that among the garbage were brand new, unopened Star Wars toys, some worth as much as $250, stacked to the roof.
The two women were found taped inside two 2′ long, 18″ high tubs in the backyard, bent over and folded in half. Remains had decomposed “was tremendous” but “advanced” according to Chief Herion.
When Michael and his brother returned from a trip to the store in 2015, their mother told them their daughter had pushed her down the stairs; she died ten days later. He said that his sister died in 2019 from Covid infection.
The cause of death remained a mystery to the examiners.
It’s impossible for them to know if their mother and sister were suffocated. There is no way to tell if they were stabbed if a knife slid in between their ribs and there was no damage to the bone,” Chief Herion said at a news conference. “It’s a very difficult question to answer.”
In some drug settings, “even if they were drugged, they are unable to tell,” he said. ” If you can’t tell for sure whether these people died of natural causes or not, that raises a red flag.”
There was signs of a fracture in the mother’s skull. According to Herion, Michael’s willingness to talk about the stair-pushing event struck him as “a little suspicious” Because Illinois did not record its first coronavirus death until March of 2020, he questioned the validity of the Covid justification.
“Drawing your own conclusions is always nice,” he said. “But going by the facts, that’s where we stand today.”
John was not facing any charges of concealing, according to Chief Herion, as knowing about a death that has gone unreported is not a crime in and of itself; one must have actively participated in the concealment, such as by helping tape up or transport the tubs, to be held accountable.
Because John initially informed authorities that his mother and sister were alive and living abroad, hours before changing his story, he might face obstruction charges, he added.
The subject of whether or not their mental health was being questioned made Herion sceptical.
In light of the mother’s social security payments, “Their psychological situation did not partake in this investigation at all, especially since they were able to ensure that the cash flow was continuing through social security checks from the mother,” he stated.
They were “Ill” and difficult to take care of, according to their brother, who told him. “What was in their mind or what they did – it’s impossible to tell,” Herion said, adding, “We can’t interview the sister.”
This would not have been known to police if the water problem had not been notified, according to the chief.
However, “because there was life insurance involved.” he claimed that the father’s death had already been appropriately reported.
As of the 5th of May, Michael is free to appear in court for a hearing on allegations of concealment.
It’s possible that a federal fraud prosecution can be made against the siblings after an investigation by the Social Security Administration, according to Herion.