Woman Accused of Dismembering Husband’s Body and Collecting His Retirement Benefits for Last Six Years
A Las Vegas woman has been accused of defrauding Social Security for years after she allegedly dismembered her dead husband's body and threw his remains in the trash, according to a federal criminal complaint.
69-year-old Nancy Shedleski deposited $121,000 of her husband's retirement benefits after he died in 2015. Social Security officials didn't catch on that anything was wrong until they received an anonymous tip in 2019 that the husband disappeared.
The complaint charges Shedleski with theft of government money, and only identified the husband as "J.P.S." and said he was in his 70s when he died.
Survivor's benefits for Shedleski in 2019 would have been $14,000 if her husband's death had been reported. However, her husband's benefits distributed that year totaled $24,000, according to the complaint.
When contacted by federal officials, Shedleski initially told them her husband was traveling but later admitted to dismembering his body and disposing of his remains after he died at their Pennsylvania home.
"Shedleski confirmed there was no ambulance, no hospitalization, no funeral, no burial and no cremation," the complaint said.
Nancy Shedleski moved to Las Vegas in 2017.
The complaint said her husband received medical care in 2015 at Jefferson Medical Center in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh).
Shedleski was arrested last Thursday and appeared in court in Las Vegas on Friday. She was asked not to enter a plea and was released on her own recognizance pending a November 5 court hearing.