May 19, 2002 3 min read

COAL CENTER, Pa. (AP) – A man who told authorities his wife might have died in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center committed suicide before police could return to search for the woman’s body while also investigating whether the man was cashing her disability benefit checks, authorities said. State police said they found Edward R. Young, 60, of Long Branch, Washington County, dead inside his trailer about 10:20 a.m. Friday. Coroner Timothy Warco ruled that Young killed himself with a single gunshot to the head.

Police found Edward Young dead when they returned to continue their search for any evidence of Agnes Ann Young, 59. They began the search Thursday after a Social Security investigator reported that Agnes Young’s relatives hadn’t seen her for more than a decade, the Washington Observer-Reporter first reported.

Police said Edward Young was also under investigation for allegedly forging his missing wife’s name on her Social Security disability checks.

Social Security officials began questioning him about his wife in September, after he, too, applied for disability benefits. Told to bring his wife to a Sept. 21 meeting with agency officials, Edward Young showed up alone, police said.

Young told Social Security officials his wife had gone to New York with friends, and he said he thought she might have perished in the World Trade Center attacks, police said.

“Various explanations have come from him as to where she was last seen,” said Trooper John Mosser, spokesman for the state police barracks in Belle Vernon.

Edward Young had told his wife’s relatives various stories about her being placed in mental institutions in Pittsburgh or New York, police said. The search began after unsuccessful efforts to find the woman in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, police said.

State police captain Roger Waters said investigators are looking for a body. Police discovered a mound of dirt covered with lime – a substance that can make a corpse decompose more quickly – under the rear of the trailer. But after digging through the mound and using a search dog, investigators found nothing.

Agnes Young’s relatives said she received disability benefits due to injuries from a car accident 40 years ago. Records indicate Edward Young was approved for benefits in January, four months after Social Security terminated his wife’s payments.

Agnes Young’s relatives never contacted police despite not having seen her for more than 10 years, authorities said.

Neighbors said they knew little about the couple. Larry Thompson, a next-door neighbor for 20 years, remembers seeing Agnes Young just three times.

“It’s been a long time since I saw her. They pretty much kept to themselves,” Thompson said.