Woman finds husband’s mummified body eight months after disappearance

An Illinois woman made a tragic discovery just before Christmas. Inside a small hidden space in her home, she found the body of her husband who had been missing for eight months.

Jennifer Maedge had reported her husband, 53-year-old Richard Maedge, missing in April 2022.

That afternoon, he called to say he was leaving work early. When she returned home to Troy, Illinois, his car was in the driveway, but he was gone.

After failing to reach him by phone and checking with family members, Jennifer filed a missing person report the next day.

A search with no answers

Police carried out several searches of the home but found nothing.

Officers noticed a strange odor in the house but could not identify where it was coming from. According to the deputy coroner, the home was cluttered, which may have made the search more difficult.

Jennifer later called a plumber when the smell continued. The plumber said it was sewer gas and capped a pipe, which made the odor fade for a time.

Despite that, she still had no idea where her husband was.

Outside the home, Richard’s sister, Marilyn Toliver, organized a campaign on social media, posting daily updates and pleas for information for more than seven months.

A Christmas shock

In December 2022, Jennifer decided to decorate her home for Christmas. While looking for ornaments, she opened a storage area beneath the stairs.

Behind some clothing, she discovered Richard’s body.

“I shined a flashlight and there he was,” she said.

Authorities later confirmed that his body was in a mummified condition, which likely explains why the smell was hard to locate during the earlier searches.

Grief and unanswered questions

Richard had previously struggled with mental health issues but always sought help when needed. Jennifer said he never told her he was thinking about taking his own life.

“This was something I never imagined he would actually do,” she said in an interview with the Belleville News-Democrat.

The discovery brought an end to months of uncertainty but left the family devastated. His sister later wrote online that the 229 days without answers were the hardest of their lives.

This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, who may have used AI in the preparation