CROWN POINT, Ind. -- Authorities have filed murder charges against a man they say smothered his ailing sister and then lived in a house with her decomposing body for eight months. Prosecutors charged John Zajic, 57, with murder and a misdemeanor count of failure to report a dead body Friday in the death of his sister, Mary Zajic, 61.

Police went to the house Feb. 20 after neighbors reported they could hear a dog whining in the house and had not seen Zajic or his sister for several weeks.

Police walked through the unkempt house and found the woman's body laying on the floor of a bedroom, the legs of her corpse covered by a trash bag, court records state.

Neighbors told police they seldom saw Mary Zajic, who had suffered a stroke several years ago, and that John Zajic told them last fall that his sister had gone to stay with friends in Arizona.

Court records said Zajic told police that sometime in August he argued with his sister, who was upset about his inability to find a job. Enraged, Zajic held a pillow over her face until she stopped moving, the records said.

He stayed at the house with the body because "he didn't want to lose his sister and that he needed someone by him," court records state. Zajic said he used $2,000 from his sister's bank account to pay bills after her death.

Zajic was being held Without bail Saturday at the Lake County Jail.