Man Keeps Brother's Mummified Corpse Inside Home For Months To Avoid Loneliness

A man in Ukraine was found living with his brother's dead body for months because "he was afraid of being lonely."

The 52-year-old man, identified only as Valeriy and living in Novomoskovsk, admitted to concealing the death of his brother, who reportedly died of a heart attack. He told the police he did not have the strength to bury his brother and instead decided to live with the corpse, Mirror Online reported.

The incident came to light when concerned neighbors went to Valeriy's home after not seeing the brothers outside for a long time.

"When we walked into the house we felt a horrific stench," Albina, one of the neighbors, told Mirror Online. "A human figure was lying on the couch. It was covered with a blanket. When we threw the blanket aside, we saw a rotting human skeleton."

"Valeriy slept and had a meal near the decomposing corpse for several months," she added. "He treated his brother as if he was alive, continuing to talk to him. He said he was afraid of loneliness."

The neighbors immediately informed the police who arrived at the scene and moved the mummified body from the couch on to a carpet. They later took the corpse to a morgue and started an investigation to find the cause of death.

"The man lived with the corpse of his brother for four months," Hanna Starchevska, the police spokeswoman for the Dnipropetrovsk region police department, told Mirror Online. "During a superficial examination, no signs of violent death were found on the body. According to the current version, the victim died of natural causes."

Local media reports said Valeriy's brother, who was identified as Andrey, will now be given a burial at the expense of the state.

Last week, the rotting corpse of a 55-year-old man was found inside a home in the resort town of Cala Millor in Majorca. Authorities said the man had died five years ago, the Sun reported. Neighbors informed the police they had not seen the resident of the house for years. When the authorities entered the home they were hit by a putrid stench before finding a man's skeletal corpse in a mummified state lying on a sofa with a blanket over him.