Ex-Pittsburgh Woman Dismembered Husband's Body: Court Documents

Pittsburgh PA

26 October, 2021

3:44 PM

Description

LAS VEGAS, NV — A former Pittsburgh woman accused of Social Security fraud told investigators she dismembered and disposed of her her husband's remains after he died in the basement of their Clairton home. A federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas states that Nancy Shedleski, then collected her husband's Social Security benefits even after moving to Nevada. She is charged with theft of government money. The criminal complaint does not list a specific Pittsburgh address for the Shedleskis. However, Allegheny County property records indicate that Joseph P. Shedleski and Nancy Shedleski owned a home on Carnegie Avenue in Clairton for 20 years. The house was sold in 2020, five years after Joseph Shedleski supposedly died. The inquiry began after the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General's Office received an anonymous tip last year that Joseph P. Shedliski (identified in the complaint as "J.P.S.") had disappeared in 2015 and that Nancy Shedliski was using his benefits. After attempts to reach Joseph Shedliski failed, Nancy Shedliski was contacted and told an investigator that she and her husband shared the Las Vegas apartment. Shedleski said her husband had been traveling across the country and she had not seen him for about six weeks. Shedleski then said her husband had disappeared, then admitted he had died in their basement. Investigators then went to her apartment, where Shedleski "admitted to dismembering (Joseph's) body, packaging the body parts and throwing them out in the trash," according to the criminal complaint. She then told family members her husband had died. "Shedleski confirmed there was no ambulance, no hospitalization, no funeral, no burial and no cremation," the complaint stated. She admitted she had used Joseph Shedleski's Social Security benefits to pay for her personal expenses and she submitted change of address formed for her and her husband when she moved to Las Vegas in 2017. Survivor's benefits for Shedleski in 2019 if her husband's death has been reported would have been $14,000, but her husband's benefits that were distributed that year totaled $24,000, the complaint said. Be the first to know what's happening in your community and region. With a free Patch subscription, you'll always be up to date on local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe.