Brothers charged in backyard burial of mother and sister
CHICAGO — Two brothers from Lyons who told police they buried their mother and sister in the backyard of their home last year are facing criminal charges, village officials said Thursday.
Michael Lelko, 47, was charged with two felony counts of concealment of a death, state’s attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said. Charges were still pending Thursday evening for his 42-year-old brother, Lyons police said in an email.
Michael Lelko was expected in court later Friday on the charges.
The brothers, both of whom are in custody, may also face federal charges, according to Lyons police Chief Thomas Herion.
“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 an email statement.
The brothers were first detained last year and told police their mother died in 2015 after being pushed down the stairs by their sister, authorities said. The sister died in 2019 due to the coronavirus, the brothers told police, though no COVID-19 deaths were reported in the U.S. until 2020.
The brothers said they had buried both of the women, authorities said. The brothers were initially held for two days, but were released without charges.
The two bodies found at the property were later identified as Jennifer Lelko, 44, and Jean Lelko, 79, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office Thursday. Both the cause and manner of deaths are undetermined.
In August 2021, police did a well-being check at the trilevel home in the 3900 block of South Center Avenue in the southwest suburb after village workers noticed no water had been used there for a year, Herion said last year.
The house was found to be in foul condition with feces and bottles of urine, police said. The brothers had removed the gas meter because they didn’t want to pay for it, authorities said.
Heaps of trash and boxes could be seen through the windows, cluttering the inside of the house. Mounds of dirt were in the backyard,
potentially covering the graves of the brothers’ relatives.
The brothers said during interviews with police that they buried both relatives in their backyard and had put the bodies in garbage barrels, Herion said last year. There was no record of their deaths.
Both brothers were evaluated mentally and physically,
authorities said. At the time, there were no criminal charges because the remains had not yet been identified.
Herion said the investigation is focused on finding the causes of death. The home has been boarded up and evidence is being collected after the county approved a search warrant, Herion said.