Man says he couldn't smell dead wife

A man whose wife's decomposing body was found in a storage room of their home said he thought she had left him.

Eugene Pilouw of Harlingen who said that diabetes has damaged the nerves in his nose, said he noticed his wife was missing on July 12. Three days later, his daughter found his wife's body in a storage room in the back area of the home.

"I never smelled anything and I still don't smell anything," he said. "I thought she had run away from home again — especially after I noticed an envelope with $250 was missing."

Harlingen police expect to get toxicology test results Monday that will help them determine 50-year-old Alicia Pilouw's cause of death, police spokesman David Osborne said. He said that initial autopsy results were inconclusive.