They studied bruises, bedsores and bank accounts.

But for years investigators struggled to distinguish signs of aging from evidence of a crime, and some wondered how many seniors took secrets of abuse and neglect to their graves.

With elder abuse reports on the rise, they're teaming up to share information and expertise on suspicious deaths and find ways to protect the elderly.

Since 2000, elderly-death review teams have been created in Illinois and at least seven other states, bringing together a wide range of agencies and forcing investigators to look at their job in a new light.
"It's a complicated topic for the field to wrap its head around because it's looking at dead people," said Lori Stiegel, an attorney with the American Bar Association's commission on law and aging.

Although short on funding, officials say their success may offer a blueprint for the future. In Kane County, the state's first review team has prompted prosecutors to file criminal charges, legislators to enact a new law and other counties to consider establishing their own teams.

Before the task force was created two years ago, social workers in Kane County would investigate elder abuse without alerting other authorities. As a result, the coroner mistakenly attributed some deaths to natural causes and seniors were buried or cremated before suspicions were raised about their deaths.

Now they are part of a multi-agency task force that includes the coroner, sheriff's and state's attorney's offices and the state's departments on aging and public health.

Meeting face-to-face monthly, they have looked for ways to improve, such as training paramedics to recognize potential elder abuse cases before crucial evidence is lost from a crime scene.

Their newfound coordination helped prosecutors build a case against two Geneva sisters who were charged this year with criminal neglect in the death of their 84-year-old mother.

"All of the things we learned in the cases we might have missed. . . . They all came together in this case," said Linda Voirin, a senior victims' advocate in the state's attorney's office.

It also prompted state legislators to enact a law allowing investigators to share sensitive information with team members. The law, which takes effect in June, has encouraged other Illinois counties to follow suit.

"Everyone agrees that it's a good idea," said David Mitchell, director of the elder abuse unit for the Shawnee Alliance for Seniors, which consists of officials from 13 Downstate counties.

But the review teams often lack funding, with Kane County officials volunteering their time and getting donations from legal settlements.

The approach would help in "some cases where there might be a questionable death and we may have information that the coroner or law enforcement may not be privy to," he said.

Sharing such information could help solve the growing number of elder abuse cases, officials said. From 1998 to 2007, elder abuse reports in Illinois grew 53 percent, from 6,213 to 9,489.

Many more go unreported. Officials estimated that 90,000 Illinois seniors are being abused, according to the state Department on Aging.

Meanwhile, Illinois' population of people over 60 is projected to jump 87 percent to 3.7 million by 2030, placing seniors at greater risk for mistreatment unless further measures are taken, said Lois Moorman, program administrator in the department.

Feeling a sense of urgency, Illinois officials have tried other methods to bring victims out of the shadows, such as establishing an elder abuse police unit and a 24-hour elder abuse hot line in the last few years.

The multiple strategies reflect the complex nature of elder abuse cases—of which about 80 percent occur at the hands of relatives, experts said.

In those cases, relatives may be lured by the prospect of an inheritance or suffering from mental health and substance abuse problems. Or they may be overwhelmed and undertrained, said Kathleen Quinn, executive director of the National Adult Protective Services Association.

"Sometimes neglect happens because they don't know what to do, and they promised Mom they wouldn't put her in a nursing home," she said.

Moreover, potential victims remain hidden because they rarely report abuse, largely out of fear of being removed from their homes, Quinn said.

Mary Virginia Barry didn't come to the attention of authorities until paramedics said they found the 84-year-old Geneva woman dehydrated, malnourished and lying on soiled sheets covered with ants in the home she shared with her two daughters. Though she suffered from cancer and the aftermath of a 2004 stroke, Barry hadn't seen a doctor in nine months, prosecutors allege.

The Barry sisters, Jill, 54, and Julie, 47, have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal neglect of an elderly person. Their attorney, Gary Johnson, declined to comment for this article.

Her case was one of the first tests for the review team, and officials said the task force worked as designed. Upon Barry's arrival at a Geneva hospital last April, Debbie Mourning, a social worker, examined the woman's numerous bedsores and notified police, setting in motion an 8-month investigation.

"It took me literally seconds," said Mourning, an investigator for senior services in Kane County. "I took one look at that woman and said, 'This is in no way, shape or form normal.' "