Troy Police Division
An Illinois coroner has confirmed that a man reported lacking final April solely to be discovered eight months later in a hideaway closet in his personal home had dedicated suicide.
Richard Maedge, 53, disappeared on April 27 final yr after phoning his spouse, Jennifer, to inform her that he was leaving work early. She bought house to seek out his Dodge Durango parked exterior their home in Troy and his keys and pockets inside, however he was nowhere to be seen.
She instantly reported him lacking however a police search of the home discovered nothing, as did a second search after she complained a few unhealthy scent within the constructing.
On Dec. 11, as she was adorning the Christmas tree, Jennifer Maedge went to search for decorations in a storage space behind a garments cabinet beneath a staircase—and located her husband’s physique.
“That’s after I found him,” she advised the St. Louis Dispatch on the time. “He had dedicated suicide.”
That verdict was confirmed final week by the Madison County Coroner’s Workplace after toxicology exams and a bodily examination of the mummified stays.
Though the household was capable of give Maedge a correct funeral, nearly eight months after his suicide, the household says the police investigation was half-hearted and shoddy.
“Errors had been made, and I would like solutions,” stated Maedge’s sister, Marilyn Toliver, after his funeral. “If it means submitting a grievance and going all the way in which to the governor, I'll.... I ought to have been screaming from the start, however I used to be suckered in by the police division saying they had been doing their job and in search of him.”
One potential rationalization for Maedge’s suicide was that he and Marilyn had been concerned in a battle with one other sister for guardianship of their dementia-stricken father, who died in August.
Stung by the household’s accusations, Troy Police Chief Brent Shownes issued a press release final week, reported by the Belleville Information-Democrat, itemizing all of the steps his power had taken to seek out the lacking man—together with no fewer than three searches of the home with specialist officers and cadaver canine, searches round surrounding areas, and a number of interviews with relations.
Officers investigating Maedge’s disappearance described the home as a “hoarder house,” making their search that a lot tougher.
One other problem seems to have been that though relations, neighbors, and even the mailman, complained of a “sewer-like” or “ammonia-like” scent across the house, it was by no means that robust—and appeared to vanish totally after a plumber visited and capped off a sewage pipe within the basement.