A Philly woman admitted stealing $100,000 in disability benefits intended for a woman who was killed and buried under concrete
Holly Sadowski was not charged in connection with the death of the victim, but prosecutors said she accessed the victim's bank account and stole disability benefits.
A 39-year-old Philadelphia woman pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing nearly $100,000 in disability benefits intended for a woman whose remains were found buried beneath a layer of concrete in the basement of a Frankford rowhouse in 2022.
Holly Sadowski was not charged in connection with the death of the victim, Elaine Whitman, who was last seen alive in 2012 and whose body was not discovered for a decade.
In December 2022, investigators executing a search warrant on the 5200 block of Burton Street dug Whitman’s body out from beneath about six feet of concrete in a basement. Police later determined that Whitman, 44, had been a homicide victim who died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck, and had been killed between four and 10 years before her remains were discovered.
Prosecutors did not say how Sadowski may have come to know Whitman, or how much she knew about the circumstances of Whitman’s death. But between 2013 and 2023, prosecutors said, the Social Security Administration — which had not been notified that Whitman had died — transferred $99,447.90 in disability insurance benefits to her bank account, and Sadowski then accessed the account and took the money.
At one point, prosecutors said, Sadowski also submitted an online bank application in Whitman’s name, using Whitman’s name, birthday, and Social Security number.
In court Thursday, Sadowski said little beyond answering routine legal questions from U.S. District Judge John Milton Younge. She pleaded guilty to charges including wire fraud, Social Security fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
Her attorney and prosecutors both declined to comment after the hearing, and said they could not respond to questions about Sadowski’s potential connections to Whitman.
Sadowski is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Police, meanwhile, said Whitman’s homicide remains unsolved.
