Cops Discover Bodies Buried In Lyons Home, Brothers Living In Terrible Conditions Apprehended

Two brothers were taken into police custody on Saturday after cops found two containers with human remains from their backyard in Lyons, Illinois.

The bodies were found after a neighbor informed cops on Thursday to do a well-being check at 3950 Center Avenue, after seeing a man crawl out of a window. Police found Michael and John Lelko living in the house with no electricity, water or gas service.

The brothers told FOX 32 Chicago that they buried their mother and sister in their backyard as they could not afford a funeral. One of them allegedly said that his mom and sister died from illness in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

Lyons Police Chief Thomas Herion said that concealing a death is a felony in Illinois. He added, "If it turns out it’s a homicide, homicide is a more serious offense." The brothers could be released without charges as cops await the results of the pending autopsies and attempt to figure out whether foul play was involved in their deaths or not, Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Herion said that right now they don't know, but police treat every death investigation as a homicide. He added that the brothers, aged 45 and 41, suffer from physical and mental health conditions.

Cops have been to the house many times regarding disturbance calls, but said that none of them were "earth-shattering," and that there are no records of any deaths from the property. Last week, cops found the two-story house in a filthy state with jars filled with urine and piles of possessions throughout the property, as well as multiple dogs and cats running around.

Herion said, "It was multiple liters of urine. There was no running toilets. Every room, the front door, the backdoor were completely barricaded with debris, boxes." The house was in such a bad shape that the siblings were allegedly using the windows instead of doors to go in and out of the property. The Humane Society took in many animals from the house.

According to ABC7 Chicago, some of their neighbors said that they always thought the brothers, who mostly kept to themselves, were a little odd. The brothers also allegedly said that their dad had passed away in 2012, and they had cremated him. The siblings were taken in for a mental health evaluation, and were released within two hours from the hospital.