Overland Park family lived with father’s dead body for 6 years, police say

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (WDAF) — Six years: That’s how long Overland Park police say a dead body was at a home near Oak Park Mall.

And relatives said the body of Mike Carroll wasn’t there alone. As many as four other people may have been living with that body since 2016.

The Social Security Administration is now investigating. The agency is now in charge of the criminal investigation, a spokesperson for the Overland Park Police Department said.

Other family members — blindsided by the news — told FOX4 they are shocked the lies lasted this long. Family said investigators told them that they were able to look at the pacemaker and were able to pinpoint his heart stopped on July 1, 2016.

“Just so confused about the whole thing. You know, how can this happen? And how can he lay there for that many years and nobody reported,” said Janet Carroll, a niece of Mike Carroll.

Investigators figured out what happened after a visit from Overland Park police in October 2022 when officers found the body on a bed.

One of the main questions still out there that FOX4 doesn’t have a good answer for is how did people live alongside this body for so long?

The home on West 99th Terrace has fallen into disrepair, with gutters falling off the roof, where police discovered Mike Carroll’s body. He was 81 years old at the time of his death seven years ago.

Neighbors remember him.

“Yeah, I know him,” said Ro Nguyen, who lived next to the home. “And after that, a couple months, I didn’t see him. I said, ‘Maybe he passed away or went somewhere?’ I don’t know.”

“I guess the coroner said natural causes, but, you know, how do you disprove neglect?” Janet Carroll told FOX4 by phone. She currently lives in Russell, Iowa.

FOX4 connected with Carroll’s nieces, who live out of town. They said Mike was living with his daughter all this time — or at least they thought he was living with her.

“It was a different story every time. You know, he didn’t feel good. He was sleeping. He was eating,” said Stefani Blubaugh, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is also a nice of Mike.

“They would say he was sick. They were going to be gone. COVID,” Janet Carroll said.

“My dad’s cousins live in Kansas City, and they had gone over there, and nobody answered the door,” Janet said.

FOX4 knocked on the door as well, but our crews were only met with a barking dog through the window — leaving unanswered questions on how this was even possible.

“You know they had to smell it. You know everybody in that house had to know what was going on,” Blubaugh said.

“You know how a body decomposes and liquifies and that crazy stuff. I mean, it’s just, again, horrific,” Blubaugh said.

The immediate neighbor said he never smelled anything.

“If it smelled, I would call the police. I don’t smell,” Nguyen said.

Some of the family members who connected with FOX4 said their hope is that Carroll’s remains will be buried with his wife in Leavenworth.

But so far, there has been no movement in coordinating that plan as family members are not really talking to each other as a part of the fallout of this revelation.