Lyons man charged with illegally burying mother and sister in back yard; brother also to face charges
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Lyons man is facing felony charges after burying his late mother and sister in the back yard of their Lyons home, and police said his brother will soon face charges as well.
Michael Lelko, 47, has been charged with two counts of concealment of a death, according to Lyons police, who said his younger brother also is in custody, and charges are pending against him.
Lyons Police Chief Thomas Herion said both brothers also are expected to face federal charges of theft of Social Security benefits, paid in the name of their mother after she died.
"This has been a very unusual and difficult case because the bodies have been buried for so many years. The autopsy was only able to confirm the identities of the two individuals, the mother and the sister, but not any evidence for the cause of death," Herion said in a statement. "However, both of the brothers are facing Felony charges and we expect additional charges to be filed soon."
The brothers originally were taken into custody last August, after they revealed they had buried their mother and sister in their back yard years ago, but were released after 48 hours as police and prosecutors continued to investigate.
Police originally went to the home in the 3900 block of Center Avenue for a well-being check last August, because the two brothers who lived there had not used water for more than a year.
When officers arrived, they asked the older brother where his mother and sister were, because neighbors told police a mother and sister once lived in the house, but they hadn't seen them.
The older brother told police his sister, who he claims was mentally ill, pushed their mother down the stairs in 2015, and sometime after that, his mother had a stroke and died.
The brothers buried her in the backyard. Then in 2019, that brother said his sister got sick and died. She also was buried in the backyard.
Lyons police, fire and rescue crews, and archaeologists began excavating days after, and found two bodies found buried in separate containers that were buried just about a foot below the ground.
Lyons police said the brothers had told them: "Mom's buried in the backyard. We buried my sister in the backyard."
The brothers were taken to the hospital for mental and physical evaluations before their arrests.
The home, which had no running water, gas, or electricity for some time, has since been deemed uninhabitable.
"It was discovered to have a massive amount of hoarding going on, I never saw such deplorable living conditions in my life, and I've been doing this a long time," Herion said at the time.
Police have said the conditions of the bodies police recovered do, in fact, match the timeline of events provided by the brothers, but authorities have yet to determine a cause of death for either the mother or sister, to confirm if the brothers' claims of how they died are true.
After announcing charges against Michael Lelko on Thursday, Lyons police said an exhaustive investigation examined every aspect of the case, including financial records.
"This has been a sad situation but with the help of Police Chief Thomas Herion and his team of investigators, and with the help of the Cook County Medical Examiner, we are very close to closing this case," said Lyons Mayor Chris Getty. "More charges are anticipated and we had hoped to close this all today."
Herion said police are still investigating the cause of death. The Lelko family home has been boarded up and evidence is being collected based on a search warrant approved by the county.
