Insane doctor who becomes obsessed with TB patient pays for her grave (and later, mausoleum) when his unproven experimental treatments fail and she dies, then steals her body and keeps it, preserved, in his home for 7 years. People in the 1940s decide this is a romantic love story. (Link is to This American Life podcast.)
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/610/grand-gesture?act=1#play