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Last updated on Monday, October 13, 2014
(LAFAYETTE) - A woman whose husband lay dead for nine months before being found has been arrested and charged.
Lafayette police said Ila Solomon was arrested Thursday night after an investigation into the death of 88-year-old Gerald Gavan. Gavan was found dead in May 2014, but investigators said he died in July 2013.
Charges against her include welfare fraud, theft, failure to report a dead body, unlawful disposition of a dead human body and failure to file a certificate of death.
According to court documents, the investigation began in May after a friend of Gavan's told police he hadn't heard from him since the fall of 2013. He contacted Solomon, who'd identified herself as Solomon's caretaker. When the friend tried to make arrangements to see Gavan, he was given an excuse, such as Gavan was touring the country in an RV.
When officers went to Gavan's home to check on him, Solomon said he wasn't there. She said she was his caretaker and later told police she was married to him. When officers inquired about the 88-year-old man's health, Solomon said he'd suffered a stroke and had been in an assisted living facility. She said he needed a feeding tube to eat.
The officers grew suspicious throughout the conversation, and finally went inside the home. On the living room floor they found a tarp covered by bed sheets. They "saw a powdery substance on the covers which appeared to be lime, and an open bag of lime in the kitchen," court documents said. Under the covers they found the "body of an obviously deceased human being, in an advanced stage of decay."
An autopsy found that Gavan had died in late June and not after July 15, 2013. A death certificate when then issued for Gavan, although the cause and manner of death were undetermined.
A man who had done some work on Gavan's home reported to police that he had noticed a "very foul odor" coming from the house weeks after doing some work there.
Despite Gavan's death, he was still receiving benefits from the VA and Social Security Administration. The VA estimated overpaying Gavan more than $2,500; the SSA estimated its overpayments at nearly $13,000. The social security payments should've stopped after Gavan's death, but since Solomon didn't report it, they continued to be deposited, court documents said. Solomon had not applied to see if she qualified for any VA benefits after Gavan's death.
In addition to those payments, Gavan was also receiving money from his pension. Court documents said he received more than $10,000 in benefits from August 2013 through June 2014, although the payments should have stopped after his death. There were no survivor benefits attached to the pension, court documents said, and Solomon wouldn't have been entitled to money after he died.
Gavan and Solomon had a joint account at JP Morgan Chase Bank; Solomon was added as an individual with power of attorney in February 2012. The account showed deposits continued from various benefits after Gavan's unreported death. Investigators noted various transactions from the account, including bill payments and withdrawals. The account went from $9,500 in June 2013 to $3,000 in May 2014. As Gavan and Solomon were the only people with access to the account, investigators concluded that only Solomon could have used the account, court documents said.
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