Colorado Couple Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison After Hiding Man’s Body Under Air Mattress and Stealing His Social Security Benefits
Suzanne and James AgnewCredit: Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office
James and Suzanne Agnew each received five-year prison sentences after pleading guilty to tampering with a deceased human body and identity theft
Colorado Prosecutors said the couple concealed James O’Neill’s body for more than a year, impersonated him and used his Social Security benefits for their own purchases
O’Neill’s brother delivered an emotional statement at Suzanne’s sentencing, saying the couple had stolen the family’s chance to grieve him
A Colorado couple who hid a man’s body beneath an air mattress for more than a year and used his identity to access his Social Security benefits have been sentenced to five years in prison.
James Agnew, 58, and his wife, Suzanne Agnew, 57, each pleaded guilty to tampering with a deceased human body and identity theft in connection with the death of James O’Neill, the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a Monday, Nov. 2, press release.
At Suzanne’s sentencing hearing, District Court Judge Meegan Miloud described her crimes as “morally reprehensible.” Miloud sentenced Suzanne to five years in the Department of Corrections on each count, with the sentences to be served concurrently, followed by three years of mandatory parole, according to prosecutors.
“This was not panic. This was not confusion. This was a long-term course of deception that required repeated, conscious decisions to continue the fraud and maintain the concealment,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Trevor Moritzky said.
Moritzky argued that the prolonged concealment compromised evidence about the cause and manner of O’Neill’s death, deprived him of dignity, prevented his family from finding closure and hindered the investigation.
“This was a sustained violation of law, decency, and humanity,” Moritzky added.
O’Neill’s family also addressed the court, with his brother asking that he be remembered for the person he was rather than the circumstances surrounding the discovery of his remains.
“Jim was not just a body under an air mattress. He was a man who loved, who laughed, and whose presence is deeply missed by those who truly cared for him,” his brother said.
James O’NeillCredit: Lakewood Police Department
“She did not just hide his body,” O’Neill’s brother said. “She stole our chance to grieve him.”
Suzanne, who requested to appear virtually for the hearing, also addressed the court and expressed regret for the harm caused by her actions.
“I deeply regret the hurt, damage, and uncertainty that my actions have caused,” she said.
The case dates back to December 2023, when O’Neill died at the Lakewood, Colo., home he shared with the Agnews. The defendants told prosecutors that he died around Dec. 3, 2023, and that they concealed his body inside a plastic mattress secured with tape rather than reporting his death, according to the district attorney’s office.
In the months that followed, the couple allegedly took steps to make others believe O’Neill was still alive. They sometimes impersonated him in phone calls and email communications, while also accessing Social Security payments deposited into his account and using his debit card or card number to make purchases for their own benefit, prosecutors said.
The situation came to the attention of authorities in June 2025, when O’Neill’s brother requested a welfare check from Lakewood police after being unable to confirm O’Neill’s whereabouts.
When an officer arrived at the residence, a man identifying himself as “James” said he wanted no contact with O’Neill’s family. However, after reviewing the officer’s body-camera footage, O’Neill’s brother confirmed that the man was not his sibling, according to prosecutors.
James and Suzanne later told authorities that O’Neill had moved away and that they did not know where he was, prosecutors said.
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Investigators subsequently examined financial transactions involving O’Neill’s account before executing a search of the residence. On July 3, 2025, they discovered his remains beneath a deflated air mattress, according to the district attorney’s office.
The circumstances surrounding how O’Neill’s body came to be hidden were detailed in an arrest affidavit previously reviewed by PEOPLE. Suzanne allegedly told investigators that she woke up to find O’Neill dead approximately two weeks after a December 2023 emergency dispatch call involving him. Rather than contact authorities, she allegedly said she chose not to report his death because she did not want to “give up” O’Neill.
Suzanne also allegedly told detectives that she and James concealed his body beneath an air mattress after their Chihuahuas began “chewing” on his remains, according to the affidavit.
James pleaded guilty in March 2026 and was sentenced to five years in prison the following month. Suzanne later pleaded guilty in June and received the same sentence on Nov. 2. Both defendants must also serve three years of mandatory parole, while additional charges against them were dismissed as part of their plea agreements, according to prosecutors.
Source: Crime
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