![Robert Kuefler lived with the decomposing bodies of his brother and mother for a year [Image courtesy Ramsey County Sheriff's Office]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/10/8/660x290/b_502x220x82/robert-kuefler-lived-with-the-decomposing-bodies-of-his-brother-and-mother-for-a-year-image-courtesy-ramsey-county-sheriffs-office_1618561.jpg "Robert Kuefler lived with the decomposing bodies of his brother and mother for a year [Image courtesy Ramsey County Sheriff's Office]")
Robert Kuefler, 60, lived with the decomposing bodies of his twin Brother and elderly Mother for more than a year. He told authorities he was too distraught over losing them to report their deaths in their White Bear Lake, Minneapolis home.
Richard Keufler, his twin brother, passed away first, quickly followed by his elderly mother in August 2015. TwinCities Pioneer Press reports that after their deaths, Keufler sent out a Christmas card which said his brother and mother were alive but were both in bad health. He added that his mother didn’t want visitors and that neither of them would be able to hear the phone ring.
Man ‘too distraught’ to report relatives’ deaths
According to a criminal complaint filed against Kuefler this week, shortly before Evelyn Kuefler, 94, died in her upstairs bedroom, her son went for a drive instead of staying with her. Upon his return, his found his mother was dead.
Both his twin brother and mother had died of natural causes, but Kuefler told authorities he was too distraught to report their deaths. Speaking to the Associated Press, Kuefler said he is not “some nutball,” even though people think he is, adding that he loved both of them. However, on top of not reporting their deaths, he had fended off other relatives and friends by keeping up the fiction that they were alive.
He's charged after living alongside decaying bodies of mother, brother for a year https://t.co/ZxePeSAppY via @pioneerpress
— Brenda (@Bgbg1973) October 6, 2017
Police discover two decomposed corpses in the home
It was in September 2016 that police made the discovery of the two decaying corpses in what was reportedly a maggot- and fly-infested home after they spotted a body through one of the windows in the house.
The officers were performing a welfare check after a concerned neighbor noted a lack of activity at the home. According to the court papers, upon entering the home they found Kuefler’s mother’s skeletal remains, as well as the “mummified” remains of his twin brother.
It has taken another year for authorities to formally charge Kuefler with one count of interfering with a dead body, as they found he had moved his twin brother’s body into a bathroom in the home.
According to White Bear Police Captain Dale Hager, the misdemeanor charge will allow Kuefler to seek psychological help. However, he did add that they believe his actions did violate the law, as moving his brother’s body had disrupted the death scene.
As reported by the New York Daily News, Kuefler doesn’t feel he needs psychological counseling, saying he had granted his mother’s wish to die in her home and that she had no burial plans. He claimed he had moved his brother’s body because it was in the way.
