Police: Woman keeps husband\'s body in home for three weeks
By Lynn Ducey, Associated Press, 3/3/2003 20:15
PHOENIX (AP) A Tucson woman kept the body of her dead husband in their home for up to three weeks as members of a religious group prayed that he would be brought back to life, police said Monday.
Police are trying to determine how long James W. Killeen, 50, remained in the family home after his death, but they do not suspect foul play. A toxicology report is being performed.
Killeen\'s brother, Christopher, and a co-worker asked police to check on him after he failed to report to work for more than a month. His wife had refused to let family or friends speak with him since before Christmas, a police report said.
When the officers arrived at the house on Jan. 23, incense and decomposing flesh could be smelled from the street, police said.
Although Tucson police Sgt. Marco Borboa said this is the first case he can remember which had \'\'religious-type overtones\'\', the department has \'\'had cases where people have lost loved ones and suffered emotional distress and were unable to realize that they had passed on and kept them in the home. That has happened.\'\'
The body of Killeen, a diabetic who worked as a Pacific Railroad manager, was found badly decomposed and wrapped in blankets in his bedroom with an open Bible and religious music playing in the house, reports said.
Killeen\'s wife, Eleanor; Stanley Adair Bennett, identified as the leader of the World Ministries Church; Bennett\'s three adult daughters and two other church members were found inside the home, police said.
No telephone listing for Bennett or World Ministries Church could be found in Arizona, and it was unclear what the church believes.
Those interviewed at the house told police they were members of the church and were staying at the \'\'Water Life Christian Retreat\'\' in Sahauarita, just south of Tucson. Directory assistance had no listing for the retreat.
Initial reports suggested Killeen may have died as long as three weeks before his discovery, said Borboa. Autopsy results should be available by the end of the month, but it\'s unclear whether an exact date of death can be determined, he said.
Those involved could face charges of failing to properly dispose of a corpse, a class 3 misdemeanor, but it was unclear Monday whether charges would be filed, Borboa said.
\'\'The case is still open. At this point, we don\'t have any signs of foul play or reason to believe that any criminal activity has occurred,\'\' said Borboa.
A woman who answered the phone at the Killeen house Monday said Killeen\'s wife, Eleanor, was unavailable and did not want to talk to a reporter. She declined to give her name.
Several neighbors said they didn\'t notice anything unusual about the house or detect any odors like those reported by police.
Although police were overcome by the odor, the smell was \'\'something that (those in the house) may have become accustomed to. It did not affect them to the extent it did the officers when they arrived,\'\' Borboa said.
Some of those inside the house told police that they did not know that Mr. Killeen was dead inside the bedroom, only that he was ill and was being tended to by his wife.
Authorities got a search warrant and removed medications from the home and took pictures of other items found in the bedroom, including a fly swatter and incense.
Borboa said Eleanor Killeen and James had been married and were divorced previously but had recently remarried.
No listing for Christopher Killeen, who lives in Rhode Island, could be found.
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