Police in Lyons on Friday said that two brothers told them they had buried their dead mother and sister in the backyard of their home.

       An excavation of the yard in the 3900 block of South Center Avenue in the southwest suburb is to take place Saturday, according to Lyons police Chief Thomas Herion.

       Police did a well-being check Thursday at the home after village workers noticed no water had been used there for a year, Herion said.

       The brothers’ house was in foul condition with feces and liter bottles of urine, police said. The brothers also removed the gas meter because they didn’t want to pay for it. Herion called the residence “uninhabitable.”

       Police Friday were focused on the process of understanding what exactly was going on at the residence.

       Jose Torres looks toward a neighbor's yard where a police investigation is underway after a report that two bodies may be buried in the yard of the home on the 3900 block of Center Avenue in Lyons on Aug. 27, 2021. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

       Heaps of trash and boxes could be seen through the windows, cluttering the inside of the house. Mounds of dirt were in the backyard, potentially covering the graves of the brothers’ relatives.

       During interviews with police, the brothers — one in his 40s and the other in his 50s — indicated their mother died in 2015 after being pushed down the stairs by their sister, Herion said.

       The sister, according to the brothers, died in 2019 due to coronavirus, though no coronavirus deaths were reported in the U.S. until 2020.

       The brothers told police they buried both relatives in their backyard, Herion said. There are no logs of their deaths in the city’s records.

       ”He said when mom died we buried her in the backyard,” Herion said one of the brothers told him.

       Both brothers were evaluated mentally and physically and were released by police.

       They are being put up in a hotel nearby while their home is being searched. But they were at the scene Friday morning.

       “There are no criminal charges at this point because we do not have a body,” Herion said. “Until we have a body we don’t have a crime.”

       Tents are set up for excavation work at a residence in Lyons after a report that two bodies may be buried in the yard of the home on Aug. 27, 2021. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

       One of the brothers said the family has lived in the house for over 100 years.

       He said he was on his way back from Jewel Osco Thursday when he saw police outside his home.

       He said his family has had a long history of bad relations with the police.

       “They’ve done nothing but bother us and give us trouble,” he said. “They’ve never given us a fair shake. It’s always been threats from the police.”

       He said his brother has a heart condition and both of them are “mentally stressed.”

       He said that he and his brother both don’t have a cellphone and have not been given access to a phone to call a lawyer.

       Two brothers tell Lyons police they buried their mother and sister in their backyard

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