Mankind has created spectacular works of art, engineered incredibly tall buildings, designed impressive supercomputers, lived in outerspace, discovered cures for nasty diseases. As a whole, nothing can compare to human intelligence, but sometimes, humans are just overly greedy.

Relatives admit burning man's body, cashing in on disability checks

Dec 5 2006 - AP
Three relatives of a deceased northeast Missouri man admitted burning his body, then cashing his Social Security disability checks for nine years.

Betty Joanne McWilliams, 59, her 36-year-old son Kris McWilliams and her 39-year-old daughter Kimberly Ferguson face sentencing Feb. 27 after pleading guilty to embezzlement charges Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. In addition to possible jail time, the relatives must pay back about $133,000, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said.

All three were indicted by a federal grand jury in October.

"These three defendants bring a whole new meaning to greed," Hanaway said. "They not only burnt their father's body to disguise his death so that they could keep collecting his Social Security, they casually ate dinner while he was burning."

Larry McWilliams died in 1997 of natural causes near Lewiston, Hanaway said, and his wife and children then moved the body to a trash-burning area behind the home and burned the body to hide evidence of his death. Betty McWilliams tended the fire to make sure no bones were left unburned, according to Hanaway.