Updated

Updated · Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 29

Eva Bratcher Faces Federal Fraud Charges Over $21,402 in Benefits After Hiding Mother’s Body for 2 Years

Updated

Updated · Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 29

Eva Bratcher Faces Federal Fraud Charges Over $21,402 in Benefits After Hiding Mother’s Body for 2 Years

Q: How did a Chicago woman allegedly keep her mother’s body in a garage freezer for nearly two years while collecting $21,402 in benefits?

Prosecutors say Eva Bratcher was able to do it by concealing her mother’s death, hiding the body in a newly purchased deep freezer in the garage, and continuing to impersonate her mother to keep government benefits flowing. According to the federal indictment, Bratcher’s 96-year-old mother, Regina Michalski, died around March 4, 2021. About a week later, Bratcher allegedly bought a freezer and stored the body there at their Portage Park home, where it remained until February 2023. To prevent suspicion, prosecutors say she told neighbors and tenants that her mother was living in a nursing home. During that period, authorities allege Bratcher used Michalski’s identity to collect Social Security benefits and use SNAP food assistance benefits issued in her mother’s name. Prosecutors also say she used a second Social Security number to obtain additional SNAP benefits she was not entitled to receive. The total alleged loss was $21,402. The scheme unraveled after Bratcher’s estranged daughter, Sabrina Watson, asked police to conduct a welfare check on her grandmother. Officers then searched the home and found Michalski’s body in the freezer. Investigators also said Bratcher had at least one fraudulent identification document bearing her photo and her mother’s name. Bratcher had already been prosecuted locally for concealing the corpse. She now faces federal charges including theft of government property and Social Security fraud, and the case remains under investigation.

3 articles · Updated · Chicago Sun-Times · Sep 29

Federal prosecutors in Illinois charged 72-year-old Eva Bratcher with theft of government property and Social Security fraud tied to $21,402 in benefits, and she is due in court Thursday.
Prosecutors say Bratcher concealed the 2021 death of her 96-year-old mother, Regina Michalski, storing her body in a garage freezer for two years while collecting her Social Security and SNAP payments.
Investigators found a freezer purchase receipt dated a week after Michalski’s death and an ID bearing Bratcher’s photo with her mother’s name; neighbors said Bratcher claimed her mother was in an out-of-state nursing home.
The federal case comes nearly three years after Bratcher pleaded guilty to concealing her mother’s death and possessing a fraudulent ID, for which she received an 18-month sentence.
Bratcher is one of 17 defendants accused in a Justice Department sweep alleging up to $1.3 million in Social Security fraud nationwide.