Police have discovered two containers with human remains in a backyard in Chicago
LYONS, Ill. – Police discovered two containers in a garden on the outskirts of Chicago on Saturday, just days after a man told investigators his mother and sister’s bodies were buried there years ago.
The man and a brother were also arrested, although no charges were filed while police are trying to confirm the identity of the remains, said Tom Herion, Lyons police chief.
Autopsies were planned. Herion called it a “sad situation.”
The investigation began after officers were called to conduct a welfare check Thursday at the Lyons home, 19 miles (19 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. Officers found the house full of debris and excrement and no running water. The two brothers lived there.
Herion said a brother revealed that her mother, who was about 70, had died in 2015 after her sister pushed her down the stairs. The man said his sister died in 2019 after an illness.
Herion quoted a brother who said the bodies were buried in the courtyard for economic reasons. The state has no record of the deaths of women.
The brothers were staying at a hotel while police were working on the property on Friday. During the excavation, and prior to their arrest, they were sitting in chairs under a tree on the street, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.