A Minnesota man is facing charges more than a year after authorities found the dead and extensively decomposed bodies of his mother and brother inside his home.

In September 2016, police responded to Robert James Kuefler’s White Bear Lake residence in response to a neighbor’s complaint that his lawn had become overgrown. According to court documents, he had reportedly been living with his family members’ corpses for more than a year when they were discovered.

Police reported finding Kuefler’s 94-year-old mother, Evelyn, in an upstairs bedroom decayed to the point that she was essentially a skeleton. They found his twin brother, Richard, in the basement where records show he was nearly mummified.

The home was filled with maggots and flies, documents show, as well as an overwhelming smell associated with the bodily fluids and decaying flesh.

The complaint alleged officers initially forced their way into the home after looking through a window to find what appeared to be a dead body.

He is facing a charge of interfering with a dead body or death scene, though he has not been connected to either person’s death.

Kuefler reportedly told investigators that he found both of them dead in the home on separate occasions. After finding his brother in a chair, he reportedly said he moved the body to a bathroom to get it out of the way.

A short time later, around August 2015, the complaint against Kuefler indicates he admitted going for a drive while he knew his mother was dying of natural causes. He said he later returned and found her dead in bed.

Family members and friends reportedly received a Christmas card from the family, sent by Kuefler months after his mother and brother died.

In the correspondence, police say he wrote that his brother was ill and his mother did not want company at their home during the holidays.

He reportedly went on to discourage loved ones from calling them, noting that no one in the home could hear the phone ring.

Kuefler was arrested after the search that led to the bodies’ discovery, initially on suspicion of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The charge he now faces is related to his decision not to inform authorities of their deaths, both of which are believed to have been due to natural causes.

After spending time as caretaker to both his mother and brother, Kuefler reportedly told authorities he left them in the home because he did not have the will to bury them.

[Featured image: Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office]