Couple accused of hiding lover’s body for 2 years, spending his US$17,000

A couple in the US state of Colorado face multiple felony charges after they lived for almost two years with the corpse of a man with whom they had been involved in a three-way relationship.

The gruesome living arrangement was discovered in early July after the brother of 64-year-old James Frances O’Neill called the Lakewood police department in Jefferson county and requested a welfare check, according to a July 11 police arrest affidavit.

During the investigation, police determined that the roommates spent more than US$17,000 with O’Neill’s debit card and that someone had forged his signature on a car title after O’Neill died in their flat in December 2023, according to the affidavit.

The body had stayed in the flat under a deflated air mattress since late December 2023 until police served a search warrant on July 3. The couple confessed to keeping the body inside and not reporting the death to police, in part because they were spending O’Neill’s social security money, the affidavit stated.

James Agnew, 55, and Suzanne Agnew, 57, each face one count of tampering with a deceased body, abuse of a corpse, one count of theft between US$5,000 and US$20,000 and one count of unauthorised use of a financial device, court records show. The arrest was first reported by 9News.

The death investigation began after O’Neill’s brother called the Lakewood police to ask for a welfare check in June 2025 after not hearing from him since 2021.

When police went to the flat in the 3400 block of South Ammon Street, a man met them outside, implied that he was O’Neill and told police that he did not wish to have contact with his family.