Colorado Couple Sentenced to Five Years for Hiding Body and Fraud

A Colorado husband and wife were both handed five-year prison terms after concealing a man’s corpse beneath an uninflated air bed for roughly eighteen months while cashing and spending his Social Security checks.

Suzanne Agnew, 58, was sentenced Monday to five years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Pursuant to a plea deal, she had admitted guilt in June to identity theft and tampering with a deceased human body—both of which are felonies—while five additional felony counts were dropped.

Her husband, 57-year-old James Agnew, faced identical charges and pleaded guilty months earlier, receiving his five-year sentence in April. The couple hid the remains of James O’Neill inside their Lakewood home following his death sometime in December 2023.

The grim reality of the home came to light in July 2025 when O’Neill’s brother requested a police welfare check. Responding officers met a man at the residence who identified himself as James O’Neill, but bodycam footage of the encounter later proved otherwise when shown to the victim’s brother.

Investigators tracked debit card activity to two 7-Eleven stores in Lakewood, where surveillance footage captured James Agnew using the card rather than O’Neill. When detectives executed a search warrant at the property, Suzanne Agnew told them where they would find O’Neill’s body.

Suzanne Agnew told detectives that she, her husband, and O’Neill had lived together for many years and were in a “three-way relationship” when he died. She recalled waking up one night in December 2023 and discovering O’Neill had no pulse, noting to investigators that she believed he died from a medical issue due to his poor health.

Rather than contacting authorities, the couple decided against reporting the death because Suzanne Agnew was not ready to give up Jim. James Agnew later admitted to detectives that O’Neill’s ongoing Social Security income was definitely a consideration in their choice to conceal the passing.

Investigators estimated the couple spent more than $17,000 of O’Neill’s money after his death. Because of the extreme degradation of the remains, an official cause of death was never determined.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Trevor Moritzky described the crime during sentencing as a calculated scheme rather than a reaction to panic or confusion. This was a sustained violation of law, decency, and humanity, Moritzky said, according to a press release from the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

District Court Judge Meegan Miloud characterized the actions as morally reprehensible before handing down the five-year term. Speaking via remote connection during her hearing, Suzanne Agnew told the court, I deeply regret the hurt, damage, and uncertainty that my actions have caused.

O’Neill’s brother also addressed the court during the proceedings. Jim was not just a body under an air mattress, he stated. She did not just hide his body; she stole our chance to grieve him.

Suzanne Agnew is currently serving her sentence at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, while James Agnew is housed at the Sterling Correctional Facility.