Children knew about mother's dead body for 7 years

A brother and sister who left their mother's corpse to rot in her ramshackle house may not be charged with a crime for keeping her death a secret for more than seven years.

While John and Diane Simmeck acknowledged they allowed Ann Simmeck's body to decompose and did nothing about it, the Connecticut law that makes failing to report a death a crime does not require private citizens to contact officials when a relative is discovered dead.



The statute only applies when a body has been officially reported dead.

"I'm not aware of any crime that would clearly apply to their conduct," Todd Fernow, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. "There really isn't anything that requires a regular citizen to report a death or dispose of a dead body in accordance with a procedure."