A heartbroken wife found her husband's mummified corpse in a cupboard eight months after he went missing.
Jennifer Maedge made the grim discovery when she went in search of Christmas decorations.
The 53-year-old's disappearance had been reported to authorities when he failed to return home after calling his wife to say he was leaving work early, the Daily Mirror reports.
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Police carried out a search of the "sewer-like" house but could find no sign of Richard, despite finding his car on the driveway and his keys and wallet inside.
Sadly Jennifer found the dad-of-three's remains on December 11, in the cupboard filled with rubbish.
Jennifer said: "I decided to put the Christmas tree up, and I was looking for a tote of Christmas ornaments, and that's when I discovered him."
She said she had rarely visited the cupboard as it was stuffed with tonnes of rubbish.
But on Thursday, it was revealed in a coroner's report Richard had died by suicide and his body had become mummified by the time he was discovered.
According to the coroner, once the body is past the stage of decomposition, it will not give off any pungent smells - which might have helped discovered Richard earlier.
Officers came to search the house twice after reporting a strange odour in the house.
However, police in Illinois, US, put the smell down to down to the tons of rubbish inside the home and plumber even fixed one of the sewer pipes outside to help get rid of the smell.
According to Jennifer, the smell eventually subsided.
Richard's sister, Marilyn Toliver, has condemned the police for not finding her brother earlier and believes officers could have done more.
However, she praised officers for finding the body and helping give the family some closure.
Marilyn said: "Even though we didn't want the outcome that we had, it's still an outcome that we can put him to rest."
Troy police refuted Marilyn's claims and said they undertook extensive searches of the home and the surrounding areas.
The coroner concluded: "There were no other injuries found during the autopsy examination or evidence found that would indicate anything nefarious regarding Mr Maedge's death."
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