Elderly Couple Found Dead

"CHICAGO, IL - An 85-year-old man is suspected of using a rope to strangle his ailing wife before killing himself in their Andersonville home, officials and family said.

"The man and his 78-year-old wife were found dead in their home on the 1600 block of West Balmoral Avenue after a caregiver for the couple was unable to get inside at about 8:30 a.m., according to police and family.

"A family member said the couple had been married more than 50 years. For the last three years or so, the wife had been ill and bedridden, suffering from severe Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

"`She couldn't do anything; she was like a baby,` the family member said.

"He said the man would open the door for the caregiver every day but failed to do so today.

"Police believe the man strangled his wife with a rope and hanged himself in a bathroom.

"Charles Wolberg, a neighbor who lived in the neighborhood for 14 years said he was surprised to hear about what happened.

"He described the man as `mild mannered and very friendly` and said he would always exchange greetings and small talk with the man who sat on his front steps. He said he had never met the man's wife.

"`He's a little old guy completely incapable of something like this,` Wolberg said."

From Chicago Breaking News Center...