A Pennsylvania man is facing serious criminal charges after police discovered he had been living with his wife’s dead body for more than a month and had allegedly taken active steps to hide her death from everyone, including her own family.
Michael Mikula, 68, of South Londonderry Township, was charged with abuse of a corpse, neglecting the care of a dependent person, recklessly endangering another person, and tampering with evidence following the discovery of his wife, Sharlene Mikula, 66, inside their home on April 14.
The grim discovery came only after Sharlene’s family grew concerned and requested a well-being check from local police. When officers arrived at the residence, Michael Mikula allegedly told them his wife was not home. Authorities were eventually granted entry, and what they found inside was deeply disturbing.
According to the Lebanon County District Attorney’s office, Sharlene Mikula was found deceased and “in a state of advanced decomposition.” The DA’s office said Michael Mikula “was aware of [his wife’s] passing and had taken measures to conceal her passing,” and that he had lived alongside her body “for at least one month” before police arrived.
When detectives questioned him, Michael Mikula’s account was chilling in its casualness. He told investigators that his wife had “been gone for a long time.” He described how Sharlene had lost her appetite in the weeks before her death, and said he had tried to encourage her to eat at least one meal a day.
He claimed that one day he simply found her dead, and that her body did not visibly begin to decompose until roughly a week before police showed up at the door. Sharlene Mikula had struggled with several mental health disorders in the years leading up to her death.
Her family told police she had been hospitalized for 51 days at a behavioral health center in May 2025. Medical records from that facility indicated she had lost more than 100 pounds over the course of a single year, a detail that raises troubling questions about her care and condition in the months that followed her discharge.
The situation took an additional strange turn when it emerged that the Mikulas’ home had been sold by the sheriff’s office on the very same day Sharlene’s body was found. A neighbor reportedly told WGAL in the local area that the new owner noticed a foul odor upon entering the property. Michael Mikula has since been arrested and booked into the Lebanon County Correctional Facility. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 23.
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