Man Spends Two Days In Suburban Chicago Hotel With Girlfriend's Corpse
By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 20, 2012 3:15PM
A Joliet man has been held on $75,000 bond after he spent two days in a motel with the corpse of his dead girlfriend.
74-year-old Derek Tanke and his girlfriend, Nancy A. Johnston, were staying at the Bel-Air Motel last week when Johnston likely died last Wednesday. Instead of calling the authorities to report her death, Tanke used her debit card to spend two more days in their motel room and buy vodka. He finally reported Johnston's death Friday morning.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they said there was an odor of decomposition in the motel room, even though Tanke insisted she died that morning. There appeared to be signs of trauma to Johnston's face, and Tanke has a history of domestic abuse charges on his record, with Johnston as the victim. Tanke told police he had gotten into an altercation with Johnston earlier in the week, but a patholigist does not suspect foul play in her death, pending the results of an autopsy.
Tanke has been charged with felony charges of concealment of a death, unlawful use of a credit card and ID theft.