Body Found, but Is It Murder or an Illegal Burial?

When 68-year-old John Sullivan Sr. disappeared from his home in Montclair about six months ago, neighbors figured that his sons had put him in a rest home.

John Sullivan Jr., 26, and Brian Sullivan, 29, never talked to anyone in the neighborhood, so no one bothered to ask them what had happened.

No one gave it much thought until a few days ago, when Brian was arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of forging a check. Detectives started checking with bank officials in Montclair to see if anyone there had had any problems with Brian. One of the places they visited was the local branch of First Interstate Bank.

The folks at First Interstate mentioned that they hadn’t seen John Sullivan Sr. in quite a while. And when they looked at some of his Social Security checks that had been cashed there, they decided that some of the signatures looked a little odd.

On Tuesday, police went to the Sullivan home--a foul-smelling, trash-strewn wreck of a place on an otherwise tidy residential street.

“The sons told us they believed their father was in a rest home, but they didn’t know which one,” Lt. Kevin Piper of the Montclair Police Department said Thursday. “Obviously, any reasonable person would assume they knew more than they were telling us.”

On Wednesday morning, a judge issued a search warrant and police investigators descended on the shabby little home on Saratoga Avenue. Finding nothing in the house, they began to dig in the back yard. About 3:30 p.m., they unearthed a human body.

The remains were severely decomposed, and it could not immediately be determined if the corpse was that of John Sullivan Sr.

“But that obviously would be the logical assumption,” Piper said. “We asked the sons about it, and they didn’t have any explanation for the body unearthed in their back yard.”

Piper said there are only two possibilities as to what happened to John Sullivan Sr.: “Either he suffered a natural death and was buried, or he was murdered and he was buried.”

But for now, with no definitive evidence that a homicide has been committed, no arrests have been made. Brian, released after his arrest on the forgery charge that apparently is unrelated to his father’s disappearance, and John Jr. remain free, although police say they are keeping in touch with them.

“All we have right now is a Health and Safety Code violation for an inappropriate burial,” Piper said.

The neighbors, most of whom did not want to be quoted by name, generally favored the natural-death scenario.

“I think the old man just died and they buried him, so his Social Security checks would keep coming in,” one neighbor speculated.

The neighbors said John Sullivan Sr., his wife and his two sons moved into the house about 15 years ago, and the place immediately fell into disrepair.

“They kept to themselves, so none of us got to know them,” one neighbor said. “But I think the old man was an alcoholic. He’d stumble up to the 7-Eleven, get a jug of booze, bring it back and hide it by the garbage cans, so his sons wouldn’t find it.

“The sons would sleep all day and stay up all night,” the neighbor added. “They’d stand out in the middle street and practice karate. I guess they wanted everyone to know they were real bad.”

As the years passed, the sons married and their wives moved into the decaying house on Saratoga Avenue. The young couples had a total of four children, now ranging in age from about 2 to about 8. John Sr. and his wife became infirm, and about two years ago, she died. Money got scare, and water, gas and electrical service to the home were cut off.

“About six months ago, I was at First Interstate and the old man was there with his son, John,” the neighbor said. “The old man withdrew about $700. I don’t think he knew what was going on. It was right after that that he disappeared.

“Then, about six weeks ago, the sons’ wives and children moved out,” he said. “After that, there was no one left but those two sons.”

Police said that a couple of weeks ago, Brian Sullivan moved to Los Angeles. His arrest a few days later led to the excavation in the back yard Wednesday afternoon.

“The first thing they dug up was a dog,” Piper said. “Some of the guys said they felt like idiots--that the old guy would turn up in a rest home after all.”

But they kept digging, eventually finding a spot beneath an old pine tree in one corner of the yard where the ground was a little soft. A few minutes later, they found the body.

“There was no evident cause of death,” Piper said. “That may be difficult to determine, with the body buried that long. And dental records (for establishing identification) may not be available.”

Piper said the sons have remained in the area since the body was found, but neither is living in the house.

On the front door, a large official sign has been posted:

“Danger--This Building Unsafe for Occupancy.”