Community Chat

[jubilant]

They showed a woman who walks her dog by the house often. This may be a little gross, but wouldn't there have been an odor or something?

[AnikaBrodie]

So sad. May she RIP.

[croemer]

On 3/8/2014 gazelle77 said:

interesting that she was found in the back seat of the car..... maybe the cars gas tank will be empty as well and they will find that she committed suicide by letting her car run in the garage with the door shut?

But the key was only partially in the ignition...so how could the car be running. I feel so bad that a person called in a welfare check and it appears not much checking was done. Someone's mail is not picked up in 6-7 years and no one at the post office thought to report that fact??? The neighbor mowed the lawn for years and at NO time thought how strange she neer appeared to be home, cutting her own lawn. I think a lot of this has to do with automatic garage door openers so we come and go and do not have much contact with our neighbors. Did she have NO family connections?

[guatmum]

Unfortunately, I think it's easier than most of us realize for someone to die and it not be noticed for a while. For six years? That's a bit extreme but for a shorter time, a couple of weeks maybe, it is possible especially for people who are fairly independent. I have a family member whose mother-in-law was well known and loved around town and she died in her house and no one noticed for about 2 weeks. Family lived farther away and usually called a few times a month. She was retired and didn't have close friends who routinely checked on each other. She was the kind to go out to socialize. I think most people just assumed she was visiting a relative or something.

Before I became a mom, I was never called by my parents or other family members. I was expected to call them. I was also in the situation where most of my friends had become married and very insular. They spent their limited social time with other couples and their new extended families so I never had contact with them unless I initiated it. As a teacher, I said goodbye to work colleagues for the summer and often didn't see them again until we went back to school so, though my life was very socially busy during the school year, there was a lull in the summer. I actually experimented to see if I was being morose or realistic when I thought I could die without anyone noticing as long as I did it during the summer. I spent 4 weeks doing things on my own and not initiating any calls to family and friends. NO one called me. I really could have died and no one would have known. So, it doesn't take having no one in your life or really anything that sad. It just takes everyone in your life assuming you will take the initiative to contact them (probably because I was the one who did all of the phone calling for years) and establishing your life on your own independently. Again, 6 years is a bit much. THAT is sad. But a shorter time can easily happen for many people.

[Sabatini2]

Does anyone here work at the post office? How long do they hold on to mail? Imagine how much mail must've accumulated at the PO after 6 years! Didn't anyone find that unusual?

What about insurance policies that change & have to be resigned, & then there's taxes, etc.

What neighbor would mow someone's lawn year after year, but never see her? Didn't they find it odd that the lights were never on at night, or the driveway never shoveled in the winter?

It's such a tragic, sad story, but it doesn't make sense.

[Sabatini2]

croemer, I just read you post #22, & I basically repeated your questions. Sorry! That'll teach me to post before reading all replies.

[BonnieBelle]

Very sad. My daughter works at a bank. She just told me yesterday that a young woman in her 40's had a safe deposit box at the bank and for an extended period of time, didn't pay the fee, the bank sent several letters that went unanswered. The time limit had finally passed and the bank was able to go into the safe deposit box. They found $140,000 cash and a lot of very expensive gold and diamond jewelry. What a shame. I wonder what has happened to the woman.

[123SuzyQ123]

I can see this happening. I have one sister that only emails about once a month. Another sister emails about once a week, but she never notices if I reply back or not! If it is "busy season" at my son's work, I can go at least 3 weeks without hearing from him during his busy time. I have 2 good friends, but they would think I was just traveling or busy if they went a long time without hearing from me. So even though this is sad, I must say it could definitely happen to me, too!!

I am not implying that I would lie in my house dead for 6 years, but I could see it being as much as 3 or 4 weeks!! So sad and scary!!

[Marienkaefer2]

On 3/8/2014 guatmum said:

Unfortunately, I think it's easier than most of us realize for someone to die and it not be noticed for a while. For six years? That's a bit extreme but for a shorter time, a couple of weeks maybe, it is possible especially for people who are fairly independent. I have a family member whose mother-in-law was well known and loved around town and she died in her house and no one noticed for about 2 weeks. Family lived farther away and usually called a few times a month. She was retired and didn't have close friends who routinely checked on each other. She was the kind to go out to socialize. I think most people just assumed she was visiting a relative or something.

Before I became a mom, I was never called by my parents or other family members. I was expected to call them. I was also in the situation where most of my friends had become married and very insular. They spent their limited social time with other couples and their new extended families so I never had contact with them unless I initiated it. As a teacher, I said goodbye to work colleagues for the summer and often didn't see them again until we went back to school so, though my life was very socially busy during the school year, there was a lull in the summer. I actually experimented to see if I was being morose or realistic when I thought I could die without anyone noticing as long as I did it during the summer. I spent 4 weeks doing things on my own and not initiating any calls to family and friends. NO one called me. I really could have died and no one would have known. So, it doesn't take having no one in your life or really anything that sad. It just takes everyone in your life assuming you will take the initiative to contact them (probably because I was the one who did all of the phone calling for years) and establishing your life on your own independently. Again, 6 years is a bit much. THAT is sad. But a shorter time can easily happen for many people.

Yes, I agree with your post.

Something similar happened to my mom's friend. She wasn't found until her son, who had flown in from CA for a planned visit, arrived at the house and found his mom on the floor. They think she must have fallen and hit her head. They estimate she was there for three days.

And the strange thing is, the same thing happened to this woman's sister.

For this reason I call my mom every day, and my sister does too. Also, we try to look out for our neighbors. It's important.

[Marienkaefer2]

On 3/8/2014 Sabatini2 said:

Does anyone here work at the post office? How long do they hold on to mail? Imagine how much mail must've accumulated at the PO after 6 years! Didn't anyone find that unusual?

What about insurance policies that change & have to be resigned, & then there's taxes, etc.

What neighbor would mow someone's lawn year after year, but never see her? Didn't they find it odd that the lights were never on at night, or the driveway never shoveled in the winter?

It's such a tragic, sad story, but it doesn't make sense.

I was thinking all of those same things. It really doesn't make sense that not one person in the world wouldn't have realized something was up in all of those years.

If people have really become that insular, that's scary. I really hope that it makes people realize we have to have some contact with each other. It doesn't mean you have to be in your neighbor's business all of the time. But some acknowledgement is important.