This photo of Nov. 26, 1996 shows Eva Rausing, right, and her husband Hans Kristian Rausing at Winfield House, London, the residence of the US ambassador to the UK attending the Glamour America Fashion Show and lunch. (AP Photo/Alan Davidson/The Picture Library Ltd)

LONDON –  For more than two months, Hans Kristian Rausing, a son of a billionaire, acted as if everything was fine, even though the corpse of his wife Eva was decomposing in their luxury home in central London.

He went about his routines as normal, and when friends or family asked about Eva, he would give vague replies, never suggesting that anything was awry.

But the macabre pretense was dropped on July 9 when London police stopped him for driving erratically and, after finding drugs, searched his home. They found Eva’s body in a fly-filled room under a pile of clothing and garbage bags that had been taped together.