It’s not illegal to keep a dead body in your Kansas home. Should laws be changed?

In many states, including Missouri, failing to report a dead body to the proper authorities is a felony offense.

But in Kansas, laws dictating how a person should properly deal with a dead body are less restrictive. In fact, according to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe, burying a family member in the backyard or leaving them in the home without alerting authorities is not a criminal offense.

Questions about the laws in Kansas spur from a case in Overland Park, where a couple kept an 81-year-old man’s body in their house for six years without alerting police or extended family members.

Though he died in 2016, a resident of the home did not call police to report his death until Oct. 23, 2022, according to a spokesman with the Overland Park Police Department.

Johnson County Medical Examiners determined the man died of natural causes, and the Social Security Administration is now investigating.

However, Howe said there aren’t any state laws against harboring the man’s corpse. The only potential charges would stem from the fraud investigation.

Howe said the lack of legislation surrounding the care of dead bodies seeks to protect individual freedoms.

“There’s many different ways that people can take care of the human remains of an individual, but the statute doesn’t make it a crime if you don’t take the necessary steps,” he said.

What’s legal in Kansas, and why?

Howe said these laws are likely open-ended so as not to impose on a person’s religious and personal convictions of how a body should be taken care of after death.

“It’s trying to be respectful of people’s variety of beliefs and opinions about what to do with the deceased,” he said.

He further added that the laws likely reflect the history of informal burial practices in the state from days long past.

“There were times when a family member died and was buried on the property, especially in rural areas,” he said. “I think that’s another aspect of why that law is intentionally vague.”

Howe said Kansas has a desecration statute that seeks to prevent bodies from being damaged or disturbed with varying penalties depending on the amount of harm done. The law does not outline how a person should care for their deceased, or to whom they should report the incident if a person dies of natural causes.

While Howe said potential fraud cases involving using a dead person’s information are fairly common, instances of an adult’s body being kept in a home for an extended period of time are not.

“We’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. “It’s very unique.”

How Missouri law differs

A Missouri statute condemns anyone who “abandons, disposes, deserts or leaves a corpse without properly reporting the location of the body,” with a penalty that can carry four years of imprisonment or one year in jail depending on the case.

A fine of $10,000 may also be imposed, according to Michael Mansur, a spokesman for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Mansur said there’s no specific Missouri statute regarding desecration, but in a homicide case, it “might be used by the prosecutor to potentially increase penalty.”

A Kansas City ordinance takes things a step further, requiring citizens to report a death to the director of health and file a certificate within three days.

Time for change?

In a previous interviews with The Star, family members of Mike Carroll, the 81-year-old left in an Overland Park home for six years after his death, shared a desire to see Kansas laws surrounding burial changed.

A granddaughter of Carroll who wished not to be named said she intended to petition lawmakers in Kansas.

“To me, what really hurts is what they did with his body,” she said.

While waiting to hear whether her aunt or uncle will be charged with other crimes, Carroll’s granddaughter said she wishes they could be prosecuted for keeping his body in their home for so long. She finds Kansas’ lack of regulation regarding burials to be archaic.

“Why would you have to make room for that?”