Lyons, IL investigation: Brothers arrested after finding two bodies buried in backyard

LYONS, Ill. (WLS) – Two brothers have been arrested and charges are pending Saturday in the suburban city of Lyon after teams found two bodies buried in their garden, according to a village spokesman.

ABC7 disguises the identities of the two men because they have not yet been formally charged.

Right now the house where all this allegedly took place was being walled up. It has become a spectacle, with people passing by to take photos while police continue to search for answers.

“It’s a very sad situation,” Lyons police chief Thomas Herion said.

This courtyard in the center of the avenue became a crime scene this week after a brother, aged 45 and 41, told police his mother and sister had been buried in the garden after they had he became ill and died separately in 2015 and 2019, Lyon police said.

SEE: Lyon police update after digging bodies in backyard

The bodies have not yet been identified, but investigators said they will make DNA to see if the recovered remains are in fact the brothers’ biological relatives.

At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Herion said the conditions of the bodies make sense for the deaths of 2015 and 2019. An autopsy is also expected to be done on Sunday, police said.

Although no charges have been filed officially, this could change once the autopsy is done. Concealing a death is a Class 4 felony in Illinois.

The investigation began after the water company alerted police that no water had been used at the 3900 block of Center Avenue. The use of gas and electricity had also been minimal.

Upon arrival they found a serious case of hoarding. The house contained jars full of urine and piles of possessions throughout the two-story house, as well as several cats and dogs running around the property.

“It was several gallons of urine,” Herion said. “There were no toilets in operation. All the rooms, the front door and the back door were completely barricaded with rubbish, boxes.”

The Humane Society also hosted several animals, police said Saturday.

Some neighbors said they always thought the siblings, who were almost left alone, were a little weird.

“We’ve known for a long time that something is going on,” said neighbor Brian King. “I’m sorry people because there have been medical problems, if you will, for the boys.”

“It’s just surreal,” added his neighbor Marth Castaneda.

The siblings told police their mother, who was about 70, was pushed down the stairs by her sister in December 2015 and died sometime the following week from a head injury. The brothers said their 42-year-old sisters became ill and died in 2019.

“Where are they? He indicated they were buried in the backyard, he said, ‘Oh, they got sick, they died, and we just buried them in the backyard,'” Herion said.

The state of Illinois has no record of his death. Police said all evidence indicates the bodies were in the yard.

The siblings also told police their father had died in 2012 and that he had been cremated.

“She was a working lady and cared for three children,” King said of the men’s mother, who police say is now 79 years old.

The brothers were subjected to a mental check last week, police said, and were released in about two hours.

“They were evaluated mentally, physically, psychologically, [and] they were later released from MacNeil Hospital, “Herion said.

The city had been paying for his stay in a hotel while the investigation continues.

The house is said to be in such deplorable condition that men allegedly entered and left through the windows because the doors of the house were unusable.

“I just hope they get the help they need, obviously there’s something wrong,” Castaneda said.

Police said they provided additional help, including an archaeologist, for the extremely tedious task of emptying the house and looking for evidence of what happened inside and sifting the dirt in the outside courtyard.

“We will need to have expert crews to empty this residence,” Chief Herion said. “We will have detectives outside as items come out of the house. Each test will need to be evaluated as read and determine if it is valuable or not.”

The Lyon police department is collaborating with the Cook County state attorney to initiate an investigation.

Police said they are currently treating this as a homicide investigation, but warned the brothers could tell the truth.

“Until we can really identify some kind of probative value of a dead person, we can’t charge and the state attorney would not approve without having a body,” Herion said.