An Illinois woman who reported her husband missing in April wound up finding his mummified remains eight months later while looking for Christmas decorations in a hideaway closet in their home.
A report released last week by the Madison County Coroner's Office confirmed that Richard Maedge, 53, had died by suicide, KTVI reported.
Maedge was reported missing last year on April 27, one day after calling his wife, Jennifer, to tell her he was leaving work early. Jennifer told police she returned that day to find Maedge's truck parked outside their home in Troy, with his wallet and keys left behind, but she found no traces of her husband and hadn't heard from him since, according to KTVI.
Police initially searched the couple's residence, which they described as a "hoarder home," but found nothing -- though they did notice a "sewer-like" odor inside the home, KTVI reported.
Sometime later, Maedge's wife called police again to complain about an odor but officers found nothing when they searched the home a second time, according to KTVI. Eventually, a plumber was called to the home to put a cap on a sewer pipe in the basement, which was the suspected source of the odor.
Months went by with no signs of Maedge, until his wife was looking for Christmas decorations on December 11. She told police she went to access a storage area, with a door hidden behind clothes in a crowded closet under a stairway, and that's when she stumbled upon her husband's body, the Bellville News-Democrat reported.
"I decided to put the Christmas tree up, and I was looking for a tote of Christmas ornaments, and that's when I discovered him," Jennifer Maedge told the newspaper. "He had committed suicide."
Chief Deputy Coroner Kelly Rogers told KTVI that Maedge's body had advanced beyond decomposition and was in a mummified state, when the fluids are dried up or removed from the skin -- which could explain why the remains didn't have a strong odor and why it took so long for his body to be found.
Rogers added that an autopsy revealed no evidence of foul play. An official cause of death is still pending toxicology results.
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